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Table of Contents
The Curious Career of T. W. Dyott, M.D.—Q. David Bowers
$1 Series of 1923 S.C. Signature Combinations--Peter Huntoon
1917-1924--A Burst of New Type Notes—Peter Huntoon
The Farmers & Merchants National Bank --J. Fred Maples
James J. Ott, Nevada Assay Office—Robert Gill
Commodore Jacob Jones' Gallant Fight Terry Bryan
Coney Island-The Greatest American Park—Steve Feller
official journal of
The Society of Paper Money Collectors
Q.D.B. & T. W. Dyott, MD
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Upcoming events include auctions of United States coins and currency in November, March
and June, and sales of Ancient and World coins and paper money in January and April. We also
welcome consignments for our popular monthly Collectors Choice Online auctions.
We invite you to contact Stack?s Bowers Galleries today to learn how you can consign to one of our
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can discuss your consignment and determine if our free grading program is right for you.
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Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Contents continued
Columns
Advertisers
SPMC Hall of Fame
The?SPMC?Hall?of?Fame?recognizes?and?honors?those?individuals?who?
have?made?a?lasting?contribution?to?the?society?over?the?span?of?many?years.?
Charles Affleck
Walter Allan
Doug Ball
Joseph Boling
F.C.C. Boyd
Michael Crabb
Martin Delger
William Donlon
Roger Durand
C. John Ferreri
Milt Friedberg
Robert Friedberg
Len Glazer
Nathan Gold
Nathan Goldstein
James Haxby
John Herzog
Gene Hessler
John Hickman
William Higgins
Ruth Hill
Peter Huntoon
Don Kelly
Lyn Knight
Chet Krause
Allen Mincho
Judith Murphy
Chuck O?Donnell
Roy Pennell
Albert Pick
Fred Reed
Matt Rothert
Neil Shafer
Austin Sheheen
Herb & Martha
Schingoethe
Hugh Shull
Glenn Smedley
Raphael Thian
Daniel Valentine
Louis Van Belkum
George Wait
D.C. Wismer
From Your President Shawn Hewitt 299
Editor Sez Benny Bolin 300
Uncoupled Joseph E. Boling & Fred Schwan 352
Quartermaster Michael McNeil 357
Cherry Pickers Corner Robert Calderman 362
Obsolete Corner Robert Gill 364
Chump Change Loren Gatch 366
New Members Frank Clark 367
Small Notes Jamie Yakes 368
Stacks Bowers Galleries IFC FCCB 369
Fred Bart 319 Vern Potter 372
Tom Denly 319 Higgins Museum 372
CSNS 320 DBR Currency 372
ANA 330 Jim Ehrhardt 372
Lyn F. Knight 341 PCDA 385
Gunther & Derby 363 Heritage Auctions OBC
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
298
Officers & Appointees
ELECTED OFFICERS
PRESIDENT Shawn Hewitt
shawn@shawnhewitt.com
VICE-PRES. Robert Vandevender II
rvpaperman@aol.com
SECRETARY Robert Calderman
gacoins@earthlink.net
TREASURER Bob Moon
robertmoon@aol.com
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Mark Anderson mbamba@aol.com
Robert Calderman gacoins@earlthlink.net
Gary J. Dobbins g.dobbins@sbcglobal.net
Matt Draiss Stockpicker12@aol.com
Pierre Fricke pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com
Loren Gatch lgatch@uco.edu
Steve Jennings sjennings@jisp.net
William Litt Billlitt@aol.com
J. Fred Maples maplesf@comcast.net
Cody Regennitter cody.regennitter@gmail.com
rvpaperman@aol.com
Wendell A. Wolka
Robert Vandevender
purduenut@aol.com
APPOINTEES
PUBLISHER-EDITOR
Benny Bolin smcbb@sbcglobal.net
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Wendell A. Wolka
LIBRARIAN
Jeff Brueggeman jeff@actioncurrency.com
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
Frank Clark frank_spmc@yahoo.com
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Pierre Fricke
WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR
Pierre Fricke
From Your President
Shawn Hewitt
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Paper Money * July/August 2020
6
By the time you read this, you will have been surprised by the
redesign of the cover of our journal, and now you can further explore the
makeover of its contents. Many thanks go to Benny Bolin, Robert
Calderman and Phillip Mangrum for their hard work in re-crafting our
beloved publication. I hope you like it as much as I do.
A few more surprises will be found in this edition, including the
announcement of the 2020 awards that we would have normally made at
our SPMC breakfast at the International Paper Money Show, which was
cancelled because of COVID-19 this year. These awards are for literary
excellence (based on voting from SPMC members), ODP Registry Sets
(also voted upon) and service to the hobby and SPMC. In addition to
these are our 2020 inductees in the SPMC Hall of Fame. They are John
Ferreri, Len Glazer, Allen Mincho and D.C. Wismer.
We are grateful that so many members are passionate about their
hobby and make tangible contributions that benefit the Society and paper
money collectors everywhere. Congratulations to them all.
Congratulations are also in order to William Gunther and Charles
Derby for their new book on Alabama obsoletes. Look for their
advertisement in this issue. I?ve just ordered my copy and can?t wait to
see it. SPMC awarded a well-deserved grant for this effort and the Board
of Governors was pleased to offer its support.
Related to this, our Book Committee, composed of Benny Bolin,
Robert Calderman, Pierre Fricke (chairman), and Wendell Wolka,
recently submitted their SPMC Book Publishing Guidance document for
review by the Board. This was approved and is included in this edition of
the journal. Over the years, the role of SPMC in helping authors of books
related to obsolete notes has evolved considerably. Potential authors
should refer to this document for SPMC?s current guidance on the
subject.
Continue to watch for more improvements in SPMC?s
membership benefits in the coming months. We are still looking forward
to production of educational videos thanks to the efforts of Loren Gatch,
as well as additional content in our Bank Note History Project and
Obsoletes Database Project, and more. Your SPMC leadership is
committed to leaving the place better than they found it. A global
pandemic is not going to get in their way.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
299
Terms and Conditions
The Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) P.O. Box
7055, Gainesville, GA 30504, publishes PAPER MONEY
(USPS 00-3162) every other month beginning in January.
Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Postmaster send
address changes to Secretary Robert Calderman, Box 7055,
Gainesville, GA 30504. ?Society of Paper Money Collectors,
Inc. 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article in
whole or part without written approval is prohibited. Individual
copies of this issue of PAPER MONEY are available from the
secretary for $8 postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries
concerning non - delivery and requests for additional
copies of this issue to the secretary.
MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere
and publications for review should be sent to the editor.
Accepted manuscripts will be published as soon as
possible, however publication in a specific issue cannot be
guaranteed. Opinions expressed by authors do not
necessarily reflect those of the SPMC. Manuscripts
should be submitted in WORD format via email
(smcbb@sbcglobal.net) or by sending memory stick/disk
to the editor. Scans should be grayscale or color JPEGs at
300 dpi. Color illustrations may be changed to grayscale
at the discretion of the editor. Do not send items of
value. Manuscripts are submitted with copyright release
of the author to the editor for duplication and printing as
needed.
ADVERTISING
All advertising on space available basis. Copy/correspondence
should be sent to editor.
All advertising is pay in advance. Ads are on a ?good
faith? basis. Terms are ?Until Forbid.?
Ads are Run of Press (ROP) unless accepted on a premium
contract basis. Limited premium space/rates available.
To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must be prepaid
according to the schedule below. In exceptional cases
where special artwork or additional production is
required, the advertiser will be notified and billed
accordingly. Rates are not commissionable; proofs are
not supplied. SPMC does not endorse any company,
dealer or auction house. Advertising Deadline: Subject to
space availability, copy must be received by the editor no
later than the first day of the month preceding the cover
date of the issue (i.e. Feb. 1 for the March/April issue).
Camera-ready art or electronic ads in pdf format are
required.
ADVERTISING RATES
Space 1 Time 3 Times 6 Times
Full color covers $1500 $2600 $4900
B&W covers 500 1400 2500
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Required file submission format is composite PDF
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must clear trim by minimum 1/2? Advertising copy shall
be restricted to paper currency, allied numismatic
material, publications and related accessories. The
SPMC does not guarantee advertisements, but accepts
copy in good faith, reserving the right to reject
objectionable or inappropriate material or edit copy.
The SPMC assumes no financial responsibility
for typographical errors in ads but agrees to reprint that
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Editor Sez
Benny Bolin
Hello and welcome to the newly re-designed and
updated Paper Money! We have been talking about this
for a while and with a lot of help and tutelage from Phillip
Mangrum and assistance from Robert Calderman and
Shawn, it is now come to fruition. A few more tweaks and
adjustments may be in the offing but I hope you like the
new pages. The cover redesign is the most obvious and is
really eye-catching. We plan to have a different color each
year for all six issues. We also updated and redesigned the
pages that are essentially the same each issue, albeit with
different text. Those include the president's message, the
editor's message, the Table of Contents (with a second one
added) and the new members page. I also have redone the
title fonts in most of the columns. One thing that has not
changed are the articles themselves. These are what make
the journal the magnificent tome it is. Please shoot me an
email and let me know what you like about the changes
and what other things you think could be changed to make
it even better.
As you can tell from this issue, I am running low
on short to medium length articles. If you have time (if
you need something to do while quarantining, write me a
short one. 2-5 page articles are great and very helpful.
I hope you all are doing well and staying safe
during this incredible pandemic we are having. Being in
the healthcare field as an RN for almost 40 years, it is
amagzing to see what is going on. I personally think the
disease is bad in and of itself, but it is made much worse
by all the super wrong social media and the self-serving
politicians. I have had a much closer exposure to the
whole process than I really wanted as my mom (she was
89 and lived alone independently) fell on Memorial Day
and was down for an extended period of time. I then had
to become her private duty nurse almost full time for the
summer until she passed away in July. I apologize for
anyone who I did not answer emails or other contacts
during that time. And now I am back at school planning
for the return of students to the building. Wow. What fun.
Benny
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
300
The Curious Career of
T.W. Dyott, M.D.
by Q. David Bowers
Introduction
Among my numismatic interests, paper money is in
the front rank. Over a long period of years, I have
studied different banks, their officers, and methods of
distribution. I have also collected various series,
especially obsolete notes. As the years have slipped by,
I have deaccessioned most of the notes, but have kept all
of my research information and have added to it.
In 2006 I completed the manuscript for Obsolete
Paper Money Issued by Banks in the United States 1782
to 1866, which was issued by Whitman Publishing and
had become a best seller and standard reference. In it is
a section devoted to Dr. Thomas W. Dyott and his
Manual Labor Bank. Located in the Kensington district
of Philadelphia, it and its founder have in parallel two of
the most fascinating and almost unbelievable histories.
In the present study I share what I have learned
about this unique enterprise, a narrative full of surprises,
unique in the history of American currency.
The Early Years
Thomas W. Dyott
Thomas W. Dyott was born in England in 1777. As
a young man he sailed to America and arrived in
Philadelphia in 1804 or early 1805. In 1807 the city
directory listed him for the first time as owner of a
?Patent medicine warehouse, No. 57 South Second
Street.? The Philadelphia Gazette, January 24, 1807,
carried this advertisement:
It is obvious that by this time Dyott had his fingers
in many business pies, early evidence of his
entrepreneurship. His narrative, written in a convincing
manner, would be essential in his future enterprises. In
April 1807 he ran large advertisements for Dr.
Robertson?s Celebrated Stomachic Elixir of Health and
Dr. Robertson?s Patented Stomachic Wine Bitters.
These were ?Prepared only by T.W. Dyott, sole
proprietor and grandson of the late celebrated Dr.
Robertson, physician in Edinburgh, and sold wholesale
and retail at the proprietor?s medicine warehouse, No.
57, South Second Street.? Sans Pareille Oleaginous
Paste to improve the beauty of the mahogany and other
hardwood furniture was another product, not to
overlook his agency for Bug-Destroying Water. A list of
his items sold for health and beauty would be lengthy.
In 1809 his business was listed as ?Medical
dispensary and proprietor of Robertson?s family
medicines, No 116 North Second Street.? By that time
it seems that his brother John had joined him in the trade.
Thomas W. Dyott, M.D. as seen
on a bank note of the 1830s.
Pro Bono Publico
Patent water proof Brunswick Blacking. Prepared with oil, which softens and
preserves the leather?words cannot set forth its just praise, nor can its
transcendent qualities be truly known, but by experience?it is particularly
recommended to sportsmen and gentlemen who are much exposed to the wet, as
it will prevent the water from penetrating, preserve the leather from cracking, and
render it supple and pleasant to the last.
Prepared and sold, wholesale and for exportation, with full directions for
using it, by T.W. Dyott, at his medical warehouse, No. 57 S. Second Street,
Philadelphia, second door from Chestnut Street; also by appointment at J.B.
Dumontet?s, No. 120 Broad Street, Charleston, South Carolina, where may be
had the Imperial Wash for taking out stains, and preserving the quality and colour
of saddles, and the tops of boots, prepared only by T.W. Dyott, who has for sale
an assortment of brushes of superior quality for using the patent blacking.
N.B. Captains of ships and storekeepers throughout the United State will be
supplied on the most reasonable terms, and their orders punctually attended to
and executed at the shortest notice.
T.W.D. has also for ale, patent wine, bitters of a superior quality, together
with a variety of patent family medicines, essences, perfumery, &c. suitable for
the West Indian and other markets.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
301
Dyott continued to make liquid blacking. In 1810 he is
listed for the first time with ?M.D.? after his name. It is
not known if he had actual medical training. In that era
there were no licensing requirements, and the patent
medicine field was rife with ?doctors.? In that year he
claimed to have 41 agents in 36 towns and cities in 12
states, including 14 in New York State. On September
3, 1811, he moved to 137 Second Street in Philadelphia,
the address where he maintained a store for years
afterward.
In the Philadelphia General Advertiser, July 1,
1815, he advertised to have had ?long experience and
extensive practice in the City of London, the West
Indies, and for the last nine years in the City of
Philadelphia.? In 1815 he married Elizabeth, and in
October 1816 the couple had a son, John Dyott. In 1822,
Thomas W. Dyott, Jr. was born. In 1815, John G.
O?Brien became a partner in O?Brien & Dyott, of which
few details are known today. In 1816, in addition to his
main store, he had an outlet at 341 High Street.
Probably as a result of needing glass bottles and
flasks for his products, he became involved in wholesale
distribution of various related items. By 1817 he was the
sole agent for the Olive Glass Works in Glassboro, New
Jersey, the New Jersey Union Glass Works in Port
Elizabeth in the same state, and for the Gloucester Glass
Works in Clementon, also in New Jersey. It is likely he
had an ownership interest in some or all.
Moving forward to 1820, he advertised his Cheap
Drug, Glass, and Family Medicine Warehouse at 137 &
139 North Second Street, corner of Race Street. He
offered dozens of patent medicines, dye stuffs, sundries,
and other products, including many items of glass ware.
An advertisement in the local Democratic Press, March
11 of that year, had this at the bottom: ?Wanted: Two
apprentices to the drug business. Boys from the country
will be preferred, they will be required to be of good
moral habits, of respectable connections, have a good
English education and knowledge of the German
Language.?
?
T.W. Dyott?s store as advertised in 1820.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
302
The Democratic Press, July 17, 1820, carried an
advertisement stating that the Olive, Gloucester, and
Kensington Glass Manufactories, informed readers that
?they have appointed Dr. T.W. Dyott, druggist, their
sole agent, with whom all the glass as it is manufactured
will be deposited for sale, by which means, from the
extensive stock generally on hand, almost every order
can be executed at an hour?s notice.? Signed by ?David
Wolf & Co., Olive Glass Works; Jona. Haines,
Gloucester Glass Works; Hewson & Connell,
Kensington Glass Works.? The outlet was at the old
stand at the corner of North Second and Race streets.
The Commercial Directory, 1823, lists these businesses:
Kensington Cylinder Glass Works. T.W. Dyott,
proprietor.
Kensington Hollow Ware Glass Works. T.W. Dyott,
proprietor.
Olive Glass Works, in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
Manufacture bottles and vials. T.W. Dyott, agent.
Dyott, T.W. Druggist & colourman; manufacturer of
window glass, &c., 137 & 139 North Second Street
[Philadelphia]
Dyott?s actual ownership interest in Kensington at
this time has not been determined. Among his products
were whiskey flasks with patriotic themes, including
eagles and General Washington, not to overlook those
with his own image. These are widely collected today.
During this period he borrowed a lot of money to
finance his enterprises, causing concern among his
creditors when repayments became slow. However, he
persevered and my mid-decade it seems that he had
surmounted these difficulties.
In the United States Gazette, Philadelphia, October
19, 1824, he advertised ?Washington, LaFayette,
Franklin, Ship Franklin, Agricultural and Masonic,
Cornucopia, American Eagle, and common ribbed
Pocket Flasks.? In the same publication he advertised on
March 14, 1825, that he had 3,000 dozen flasks
available for purchase. After the deaths of John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson, they were commemorated on
flasks as well.
In this era two of his important sources for finance
were Philadelphia merchants Jacob Ridgway and
Captain Daniel May, both of whom were prominent in
the local social scene. Dyott complained of the high
interest they charged, but continued the relationships.
These arrangements were not known to others outside
of Dyott?s inner circle and came to light years later in
1839 court proceedings, as explained later in the present
text.
On May 17, 1826, in the Cayuga Republican issued
in distant Auburn, New York, he advertised his
Philadelphia store, also indicating that he was involved
in glass manufacture: ?3 or 4 first rate vial blowers will
meet with constant employment and good wages by
applying as above.? Not long afterward his
advertisements told of his ownership, such as this notice
in the Commercial Advertiser, New York City, June 18,
1828:
Lafayette-Eagle flask by Dyott?? ? ???????Franklin-Dyott flask with T.W. Dyott?s portrait on one side
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Dyott secured several patents relating to glass making. The glass factories were expanding by leaps and bounds.
To add to the work force, advertisements were placed, such as this in the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 19, 1832:
Glass factory workers as illustrated on a bank note.
As to the history of the glass factory, it dated back
to 1771 when Robert Towers, a leather-dresser, and
Joseph Leacock, a watchmaker, decided to erect a glass
works in Kensington. They purchased frontage on the
east side of Bank Street (later called Richmond Street),
extending back to the shore of the Delaware River,
which was navigable at that point. The business was up
and running in short order, as evidenced by this notice
in the Pennsylvania Gazette, January 1772: "The glass-
factory, Northern Liberties, next door to the sign of the
Marquis of Granby, in Market Street, where the highest
price is given for broken flint-glass and alkaline salts.?
Not long afterward in November of the same year
the business was sold to druggists John and Samuel
Gray, who added Isaac Gray as a partner. The works
were expanded. In May 1780 the business was sold to
tobacconist Thomas Leiper, who is thought to have
found it to be a convenient source for bottles in which
to store and sell snuff. On March 6, 1800, the factory
was sold to Joseph Roberts, Jr., James Butland, and
James Rowland for $2,333, after which it was known as
James Butland & Co., with an outlet at 80 North Fourth
Street. In 1801 Roberts sold his interest to his partners,
who continued the business until 1804, after which
Rowland became sole proprietor. Rowland in 1808 had
his outlet at 93 North Second Street. In the 1820s, Dyott
was agent, later proprietor.
Glass Ware
Philadelphia and Kensington Factories. Apothecaries? vials, patent medicine and perfumery do, mustards, cayennes, shop
furniture, confectioner?s show bottles, druggists packing bottles, carboys, acids, castor oil, cordial and wine bottles, demijohns,
flasks, quarts, half gallon, and gallon common bottles, preserving and fruit jars, with a complete and general assortment of
every other article in the glass line.
The above establishment is on the most extensive scale, embracing three distinct factories located in the immediate
vicinity of Philadelphia?affording every facility for executing orders with promptness. The quality of the glass is decidedly
superior to any other of the same description made in this country.
Orders punctually attended to, addressed to the proprietor, T.W. Dyott, Philadelphia, or to H.W. Field, agent, New York.
Apprentices Wanted
A number of boys of industrious habits from the ages of ten to fifteen are wanted as apprentices to the art and science of
glass blowing; in connection with which they will also be taught an additional and distinct trade, leaving them a choice of
following either occupation when they become of age.
The terms on which they will be taken will insure them good boarding, clothing, washing, and lodging, with a privilege
of doing overwork, for which they will be payed journeymen?s wages.
In the arrangement and formation of his establishment the proprietor has spared no expense in making it an advantageous
situation for the boys and meriting the approbation of their parents and friends. Strict attention will be given to their morals
and education, a qualified school-master having been engaged for their sold instruction.
The school house, house of public worship, and dwelling house are all erected on the premises at the factories, which are
situation on one of the most pleasant and healthy locations on the banks of the Delaware near Philadelphia.
The school is open every evening in the week and before and after the hours of worship on Sundays. A regular course of
instruction will thus be maintained during their whole apprenticeship, and those who are anxious to acquire improvement will
meet with every facility.
Apply to T.W. Dyott, corner of Second and Race Streets, or to M. Dyott at the factories in Kensington.
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Happy Times at Dyottville
Dyottville
In March 1833 it was announced that the four factories would
henceforth be known as the Dyottville Glass Factories. While
Dyottville was not a name recognized by the state, the designation
was widely known. The growth of the enterprise had many
detractors, including in particular Jeremiah Kooch, publisher of
Kooch?s Blue Book for the County of Philadelphia, who claimed that
much public money was spent in improving the area, including for a
bridge, walls, and fences, and that the county commissioners were
frequent guests of the Dyott family and were treated like royalty.
T.W. Dyott, M.D., was a fraud, an impostor, he alleged. Per contra,
many articles in the popular press praised Dyottville and its
proprietor.
The spread included a farm of about 200 acres on which
vegetables, poultry, and 48 cows (per a May 1833 account) were
situated. Dyottville included housing for all of the workers plus
about 40 houses arranged in a row, for the accommodation of
married persons and their families. The boys were accommodated in
rooms for six to eight, with partitions, deep shelves for storing
clothing and personal effects and other amenities. There were
facilities for washing three times a day, before each meal.
In a separate building the boys had their own dining hall, with
fine provisions. On Christmas, turkeys and plum pudding were the
usual fare. Snacks of crackers were furnished before and after the
noon meal. The adults had their own dining hall.
In May 1833 a reporter from the United States Gazette visited
Dyottville and turned in lengthy glowing report describing
cheerfulness and harmony. Selected excerpts:
?The general government of the place is in persuasion, not coaxing,
persuasion that cheerful obedience to reasonable rules is the best policy.?
On entering one factory, in the center of which was a furnace, having in it ten or twelve melting pots, and employed about
thirty persons, we were struck with the cheerfulness with which all performed the offices assigned to them. On the side of the
furnace opposite to that, on which we and other visitors stood, some one of the workmen commenced singing. He had scarcely
proceeded a note before the whole band of youth and children joined in perfect harmony and time, and carried through in the
most admirable style we have ever heard. It was one of the richest extemporaneous musical treats we have ever enjoyed. It was
carried on without a relaxation of labor on the part of a single individual. The vaulted roof was favorable to the prolongation of
the sound.?
This was no trial ?got up? to please the company. Twenty times and perhaps fifty times a day, labor is lightened by the
accompaniment of music in all the factories.
Dyottville was for a long time exclusively conducted by Dr. T.W. Dyott of this city. He has recently associated with his
brother, who with his family occupy the central building of this little ton?where, we are bound to day, true hospitality, its
comforts and graces are fully exercised.?
The Daily Pennsylvanian, Philadelphia, September 9, 1834, included this advertisement:
T.W. Dyott?s store as advertised in 1833
in DeSilver?s Philadelphia Directory and Stranger?s
Guide?
A Teacher Wanted,
In an extensive establishment, wherein a School System of Moral and Mental Labor is adopted, for the instruction
of a large number of boys. A person from one of the Eastern states would be preferred He must be a single man, of
pleasing address, industrious habits, and strictly moral character; one who will feel it incumbent on him to impart to the
working boy an elevation of character; and a sentiment of self-dignity that will tend to equalize him with all men, and
that will tach him to brook no distinction of superiority, excepting such as is conferred by virtuous principles.
His entire time will have to be devoted to the interests of his pupils among whom he must associate during their
hours of labor, of study, and of amusement.
To a person thus qualified, a liberal salary will be given. Satisfactory references as to character and capacity will
be required. Apply to
T.W. Dyott Philadelphia?
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Dyott?s glass factories in Dyottville on the bank of the Delaware River in the 1830s.
In 1834 The Mechanic, Journal of the Useful Arts and Sciences published this:
In 1833 more than 300 people were employed at the
Dyottville Glass Works, of whom more than 200 were
young apprentices. Most workers lived near the factory,
which was connected to about 400 acres of land along
the river. A farm produced dairy products and
vegetables. In that year he published a brochure, An
Exposition of the System of Moral and Mental Labor
Established at the Glass Factory of Dyottville, in the
County of Philadelphia, mainly to back his unsuccessful
petition to obtain a state charter for a proposed bank.
The author of the publication is not known, but his
talented friend Stephen Simpson may have been
involved. Simpson had been a bank clerk earlier and in
1830s had become a candidate for Congress on the
Workingmen?s Party ticket. In 1831 his treatise,
Working Man?s Manual: A New Theory of Political
Economy on the Principle of Production the Source of
Wealth, was published in Philadelphia. In the next year
his Biography of Stephen Girard was published.
The presentation of Dyott?s philosophy included
this (excerpts):
It is too much the propensity of our nature, to run after
fortune with intoxicating ardour, without considering how
many human hearts we may crush in the heat of the pursuit;
or without paying very punctilious regard to the means by
which we accomplish profit. The passion for gain is often too
powerful to be modulated by Reason, arrested by judgement,
or qualified by justice. It is perhaps to this point that we are
to refer the hitherto neglected point of combining mental and
moral with manual labor.?
I projected the plan of instructing boys in the art of glass
blowing, taking them at so tender an age that their pliant
natures could be molded into habits of temperance, industry,
docility, piety, and perfect moral decorum, under a system of
instruction within the walls of the Factory, fully adequate to
develop all these moral and intellectual faculties, which make
Glass Works
Just above Kensington, near Philadelphia, are the Dyottville Glass Works?one of the greatest curiosities of this
country.
There are four large factories or furnaces each having ten melting pots and constantly employing more than 300 men
and boys. They make 10,000 pounds of glass a day. If they work 310 days in a year they must make 31,000,000 pounds of
glass in a whole year. How many half-pint tumblers would all this glass make, each weighing four ounces.
In making this glass they consume in a year 240,000 lbs. of red lead, 370,000 lbs. pot and pearl ashes, 1,360,000 lbs.
of sand, 2,300 bushels of lime, and 1,550 of salt. (What then is glass made of?)
Part of the fuel which they burn is rosin?at the rate of 50 barrels a day, or more than 15,000 a year. Besides this, they
burn 1,800 cords of pine and oak wood and 1,200 bushels of Virginia coal. Surely this is a most splendid establishment.
Of the 300 laborers, 225 are boys, some of whom are not more than eight years of age. They are taught each evening
the branches of a plain, practical education. They have also a library. Almost all learn to sing, and you may hear the various
companies of laborers singing most delightfully, while busy at their work, sometimes twenty or thirty times a day.
Not a drop of spirit or any other intoxicating liquor is allowed in the whole establishment.
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the happy man, the good citizen, and the valuable
operative.?
The mere act of blowing does not cause an exertion of the
lungs and habit soon renders the heat imperceptible.? The
exertion of blowing glass, by giving a slight and healthy
expansion to the chest and lungs, adds vigor and energy to the
whole frame.?
Dyott was a remarkably beneficent employer and
wanted his workmen and apprentices to enjoy their life
experience, highly unusual for the era. He built a chapel
and hired a clergyman to give sermons three times on
Sunday. He held prayer meetings and educational
lectures. Singing lessons were given. A well-stocked
library contained classical volumes.
In 1835 Dyott partnered with Stephen Simpson to
launch on January 4, 1835, The Democratic Herald and
Champion of the People. In a discussion, Simpson had
asked Dyott if he was a Whig or if he was a Democrat.
He replied that he had no particular persuasion, but
voted for the candidate, not the party. Simpson made the
decision, based on the current strength of the
Democratic Party under President Andrew Jackson and
his perception that there were more Democrats than
Whigs among potential readers. Curiously, the name on
the masthead was John B. Dyott, his son who would not
be 21 years of age until the next October.
In practice, the newspaper was light on political
news but mainly consisted of promotional material for
Dyottville and its various glass products. Another sheet,
the General Advertiser and Manual Labor Expositor,
seems to have had a local or regional distribution and
was short-lived. The Democratic Herald lasted for
nearly three years.
Starting in 1836, this advertisement was run in regional papers, as here from the June 4, 1836 issue of the Public
Ledger, Philadelphia.
The Manual Labor Bank
Expanding his business horizons and also to provide a place for workers? savings accounts, in early 1836, with
Simpson as the business manager and cashier, he formed the Manual Labor Bank. On March 26 this was published,
dated February 1:
Unlike most of its contemporaries, the bank did not
have a state charter despite applying for such. However,
this lack did not seem to bother the authorities, as Dr.
Dyott and his Dyottville had a sterling reputation as
viewed by most of the public. Behind the scenes, Dyott
was often short of funds, having to borrow privately at
high interest rates, as later information would reveal. An
entrepreneur he was, but a money manager he was not.
The engraving firm of Underwood, Bald, Spencer &
Hufty was given the contract to print bank notes of
several different denominations, illustrated with a scene
of the interior of a glass factory with workers engaged
in bottle making. The portrait of Franklin was on one
side of each bill and that of Dr. Dyott on the other,
perhaps representing Dyott?s opinion of Philadelphia?s
most prominent citizens past and present.
Apprentices
A few more boys of health, industrious habits from the age of ten to fourteen years will be taken in as apprentices to the
glass blowing and wicker working in the Dyottville factory system as set forth by the proprietor of that establishment in his
Exposition of Moral and Mental Labor, copies of which are published in pamphlet form and will be presented to those who
feel interested, but applying at the N.E. corner of Second and Race streets.
T.W. Dyott
Six Percent Savings
at the Manual Labor Bank, N.E. corner of Second and Race streets?Capital $500,000; secured in trust on real estate and
publicly recorded.
Deposits for four months, not less than ten dollars, will be received every day on which six per cent per annum will be
allowed, free of all charges of commission. Ten days? notice will be required of intention to withdraw the deposit at the end
of that period. If no notice to withdraw has been given, the deposit will be held, and the interest for that period carried to the
credit of the depositor, when interest will be allowed on the whole sum to his credit; and the same will be done at the expiration
of every four months, until the notice be given to withdraw the deposit.
T.W. Dyott, President
Stephen Simpson, Cashier
Philadelphia, Feb. 2, 1836
N.B. Savings and deposits will be received after the usual banking hours, until nine o?clock P.M. at the counting house
and deposit office, No. 141 North Second St. two doors above the banking house.
Permanent deposits for one year will be received and the interest paid quarterly at six percent subject to the usual notice
of withdrawal.
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This bank-note partnership was new on the
Philadelphia scene and had just recently opened its
doors in the Exchange Building. As the successor to
Murray, Draper, Fairman & Co. and Underwood, Bald
& Spencer, the principals were already well-known.
They included Thomas Underwood, Robert Bald, Asa
Spencer, Samuel Hufty, and Samuel Stiles. In New York
City an office was maintained at 14 Wall Street under
the directorship of Nathaniel and S.S. Jocelyn, well-
known engravers who hailed from Connecticut. The
firm lasted until 1843 when it was succeeded by the
related partnerships of Bald, Spencer, Hufty &
Danforth, Philadelphia, and Danforth, Bald, Spencer &
Hufty, New York City.
On its currency the bank claimed to have
$500,000 in capital ?secured in trust on real estate and
publicly recorded,? a phrase continued to be used in
advertising. This large advertisement was published in
late spring 1837, as in the Daily Pennsylvanian,
Philadelphia, on June 2:
Money rolled in from depositors, and the funds
found ready use in financing Dyott?s other enterprises.
Even President Andrew Jackson seems to have endorsed
the bank, per this comment in an advertisement in the
Philadelphia Public Ledger, January 1, 1837:
General Jackson says he can see no objection to
your plan of business, with reference to your banking,
as it is founded on a real security and must depend upon
commercial credit for circulation which is all fair; but
he is decidedly opposed to chartered monopolies, which
sanction a paper credit, without a proper metallic basis.
Dyott and Simpson spent a lot of time hand-signing
as president and cashier the bank?s bills, probably many
thousands of sheets of them. They were the currency of
choice in Dyottville and were readily accepted at par
elsewhere in the Philadelphia district.
Backing for the currency as stated on the bank?s bills.
The Highest Rate of Interest
Six Per Cent per Ann Paid Quarterly, or compound interest carried to the credit of the depositor every three months
and the MANUAL LABOR BANK and Six Per Cent Saving Fund, North-East corner of Second and Race Sts.
Instituted February 2d, 1836.
Capital $500,000
Secured in trust by judgment confessed on real estate and publicly recorded?according to the following
Certificate
Go the 11th day of May, 1836, a bond and judgment, commencing from 2nd February last, was filed in the District
Court for Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, as security for all the responsibilities of banking and saving fund deposits
secured by Dr. Thomas W. Dyott of the City of Philadelphia.
Copy from the endorsement on the bond:
?Entered in the Office of the District Court for the city and county of Philadelphia, and warrant of attorney filed May
11, 1836,?
Pro Prothonotary,
(signed) K Coats
Jacob Ridgway, Esq.
Trustee and bond holder
The Manual Labor Bank and Saving Fund has been established by the proprietor in order to afford a safe depository
for the savings of labor and the surplus of incomes, under an ample security of his estate, at the full rate of legal interest?
a security which he believes no other institution possesses?and a rate of interest which he is certain is not paid by any
other.
His motive for this is to give to the meritorious working man the full legal interest which he ought always to obtain
for his savings; and the individual responsibility of the proprietor affords a guarantee that he will accept no more deposits
than his interest calls for, on the single principle of his liability; and which so effectually guards and protects the common
safety of all the depositors by restricting the amount to be received, to the security pledges of 500,000 Dollars.
Deposits received every day until nine o?clock P.M.
Pamphlets containing the terms and exposition of this establishment to be had gratis at the Banking House.
T.W. Dyott, Banker
Stephen Simpson, Cashier ?
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Advertisements in the autumn of 1837 were placed by T.W.?s brother, M.B. Dyott:
Sheet of four $1 notes of the Manual Labor
Bank. The individual notes are lettered A to D.
M.B. Dyott?s
Wholesale & retail grocery, provision, and variety stores at the
Dyottville Glass Factories, in the District of Kensington,
Philadelphia County.
N.B. The highest prices (in cash or store goods) will always be
given for all kinds of domestic goods and country produce,
including live and dead stock, by applying as above.
Manual Labor Bank notes taken at par.
Manual Labor Bank 5-cent note.?
Manual Labor Bank 6? cent note.
Manual Labor Bank 10-cent note. Manual Labor Bank 12? cent note, June 1, 1837.
Manual Labor Bank 50- cent note.Manual Labor Bank 25-cent note.
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On June 30, 1837, the Saturday Evening Post printed this:
According to an early account, these small bills were readily accepted by local merchants and tradesmen in return
for goods and services, but were not accepted at the city banks. According to the Pennsylvania Auditor General?s
report for 1837, this bank had in circulation in denominations of 5, 6?, 10, 12?, 25 and 50 cents, and 1, 2, and 3
dollars, to the amount of $117,500.
Counterfeit & Loss Prevented:
SMALL BANK BILLS
The proprietor of the Manual Labor Saving Fund (at the request of, and to accommodate the public) having caused
to be inimitably engraved, in first rate style, a series of plates, notes from $3 to 5 cts. printed on bank-note paper, is
now prepared to supply a limited amount of same for public convenience.
These bills effectually baffle all attempts to counterfeit them, and being issued on an ample Security of Real Estate
and redeemed when presented in sums of $5 in the bank bills of this city, no loss can possibly accrue on them. Any
amount of the same, not under 50 cents, will always be received on deposit, to the credit of the holder, at 6 percent
interest, at the Saving Fund. N.E. corner Second and Race Streets
T. W. Dyott.
Stephen Simpson, cashier
Manual Labor Bank, June 22, 1837
Manual Labor Notes in
denominations of $1, $2 and $3
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Manual Labor Bank $5 note,
August 2, 1836. The payee, in this
case Tannahill & Lavender,
represents the first person or entity
to which a newly-signed note was
given.?
Manual Labor Bank $10 note,
August 2, 1836.
?
Manual Labor Bank $100 note,
September 10, 1838, no mention of
interest.
?
Manual Labor Bank $50 note,
February 2, 1836.
?
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The Financial Panic and Consequences
Financial Difficulties
Dyott did not reckon with the Panic of 1837?nor
did many others. He thought that the unbridled
prosperity of the early 1830s would continue forever.
On May 11, 1837, in Philadelphia 11 banks suspended
the payment of gold and silver coins in exchange for
paper. Soon, all paper became distrusted, but there was
little alternative to using it. Bills sold at a discount in
terms of coins. Large-denomination bills in particular
were viewed with suspicion in the marketplace.
A chill enveloped nearly all businesses in the
country, forcing the closure of thousands and the failure
of many banks. Orders for the glass factories
plummeted, and Dyott saw no prospect for a change
anytime soon. Depositors swarmed the office of the
Mutual Labor Bank from mid-March through May,
during which time the bank?s bills were exchanged for
bills of various state-chartered banks in the region.
There were no longer any silver or gold coins in general
circulation anywhere. During this time, Dyott
maintained that all was well. In the meantime, cash was
given to his family.
No advertisements indicating the Kensington glass
factories were still in operation have been seen after the
summer of 1837. The New York Herald on October 3
included an article about glass factories in America,
including this: ?There is one glass house for the
manufacture of bottles in Philadelphia, containing 5
furnaces of 6 pots each, and on the premises there are
280 persons employed.? Likely, this information was
from an earlier source and did not refer to operations in
place in October.
Beginning in July 1837, T.W. Dyott began the
wholesale transfer of his assets and businesses to his
close relatives, taking notes in payment and sometimes
charging rental, as in the case of the glass factory signed
over to brother Michael, who had arrived from England
in the late 1820s. His 16-year-old son was set up as
Thomas W. Dyott, Jr., & Co., retail grocers. The senior
Dyott?s stated purpose for doing this was to permit him
to spend more time with the increasingly busy and
ostensibly prosperous Manual Labor Bank.
Around November 1st a ?run? on the Manual Labor
Bank followed a rash of nasty rumors that it was on the
brink of failure. Dyott sprang into action, and
announced a system whereby the bank?s bills would be
redeemed at par at local stores?actually a declaration
of a system that had been working for a long time. On
November 6th Dyott published a reward of $500 to be
paid for the identification of the person who first
circulated the rumor of the bank?s instability.
In August 1838, Dyott announced the issuance of a popular type of currency used by many different banks at the
time:
Post Notes: The notes of the Manual Labor Bank dated one year after the date, either with or without interest of the
denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 dollars, are received at their full par value, the same as those notes payable on demand, at the
stores of the subscribers, in payment for groceries, drugs, medicines, paints, glass ware, and every other kind of goods in their
line of trade, at the lowest cash prices, either wholesale or retail.
J. B. & C. W. Dyott, 139 and 141 N. Second Street
T. W. Dyott, Jr. & Co., 143 N. Second Street
M. B. Dyott, Dyottville Glass Factories
NB Notes of larger denominations taken by specie contract
The Messrs. Dyotts invite the attention of druggists, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, store-keepers, farmers and all
who are favorably disposed to the Manual Labor System and who may be in possession of any of the Manual Labor bank notes
not to part with them below their full par value, but to call at their stores, where every attention will be paid to them.
Fair prices in cash or store goods will be paid for all kinds of country produce and for goods generally of domestic
manufacture.
Some regular (not post) notes were issued with dates slightly later than post notes, as illustrated on the
next page. No record has been found as to specific 1838 notes listed and which are post notes and which
are not, although examination of existing notes shows some that were issued.
On March 26, 1838, and in other issues the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, carried this advertisement:
Post Notes
The notes of the Manual Labor Bank, dated one year after date (either with or without interest), of all denominations, are
received by the subscribers at their full par value, the same as those notes payable on demand, in payment for glass and every
kind of goods in their line of trade, at the very lowest cash prices.
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J.B. & C.W. Dyott
Nos. 139, 141, and 143 N. Second St.
M.B. Dyott.
Dyottville, East Kensington.
N.B.?It having been represented by holders of the notes that many persons who advertise to receive the Manual Labor notes
at par are in the habit of imposing an extra price on purchasers, to the amount of from 10 to 25 per cent, when payment is made
in Manual Labor Notes. If persons were to apply to the above stores they can be accommodated with nearly every kind of articles
necessary in a family, and avoid being imposed upon.
By this time Dyott?s debtors operating the businesses he leased and transferred were experiencing
continuing losses as was the bank. However, Dyott endeavored to maintain the appearance of prosperity.
Or, more accurately, nothing has been found in newspaper notices suggesting otherwise. Later
advertisements were mostly brief, such as this from the April 5, 1838, issue of the National Gazette,
Philadelphia:
Druggist?s Bottles, &c.
4,000 packages druggist packing bottles and shop furniture from the Dyottville Factories, for which Manual Labor Bank
notes will be received in payment. For sale by J.B. & C.W. Dyott, Nos. 139, 141, and 143 N. 2nd St.
Manual Labor Bank $10 post note,
May 4, 1838, predating the above-
quoted announcement as do some
other post notes. The interest
provision is crossed out.
?
Manual Labor Bank $20 post note,
July 21, 1838. The interest
provision is crossed out.
?
Manual Labor Bank $50 post note,
July 21, 1838. The interest
provision is crossed out.
?
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Beginning on July 22, 1838, this notice was published, in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 23:
Post Notes
The notes of the Manual Labor Bank dated one year after date (wither with or without interest), of the denominations of 1,
2, 3, 5, and 10 dollars are received at their full par value, the same as those notes payable on demand, at the stores of the
subscribers, in payment for groceries, drugs, medicines, paints, glass ware and every kind of goods in their line of trade, at the
lowest cash prices, either wholesale or retail.
J.B. & C.W. Dyott,
139 and 141 N. Second St.
T.W. Dyott, Jr. & Co.
No. 143 N. Second Street
M.B. Dyott
Dyottville Glass Factories
N.B.?Notes of larger denominations taken by special contract.
The Messrs. Dyotts invite the attention of druggists, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, storekeepers, farmers, and all
who are favorably disposed to the Manual Labor System, and who may be in possession of any of the Manual Labor Bank notes,
not to part with them below their full par value, but to call at their stores, where every attention will be paid them.
Fair prices in cash or in store goods will be paid for all kinds of country produce and for goods generally of domestic
manufacture.
Slight variations of the above were published into September. A new venture was announced in the
autumn, such as advertised on October 5, 1838 in the Philadelphia Public Ledger:
Rotary Steam Engines
The subscribers have established a factory at Dyottville in the district of Kensington, where they are building and have
constantly on hand for sale Rotary Steam Engines, of an improved construction under the patent of Ethan Baldwin, the simplicity
and durability of which surpass any other steam engine now in use, and they require one third less fuel.
Engines from five to sixty horse power may be seen in operation and examined every day at the factory.
The subscribers will sell their engines on reasonable terms and guarantee any engine they sell not to cost one dollar for
repairs or packing in two years.
Orders for lathes, slide-rests, cutting wheels, boring cylinders and for machinery in general will be punctually attended to
under the superintendence of George W. Henderson, known as a first rate machinist.
Dyott, Baldwin & Hazelton
These advertisements were published into February 1839.
The Fall of the Dyott Empire
Aftermath
Dr. T.W. Dyott was hardly alone in financial
problems, for at the time thousands of businesses
were failing all across the United States, and the
Hard Times era had begun. His Democratic Herald
and Champion of the People folded literally and
figuratively. Finally, in November 1838, Dyott
filed for bankruptcy in the Insolvency Court. Notice
of his status was published in December.
As various banks failed around the United
States, their presidents, cashiers, and stockholders
usually walked away, without further obligation.
Sometimes legal actions were instituted to recover
funds, especially in instances in which shareholders
simply gave IOUs rather than paying for capital
stock, and owed cash. However, assets were few
and far between, and neither stockholders nor the
public received much for the shares or bills of failed
institutions.
However, with Dyott the situation was
different. He was viewed by many as a captain of
industry, a man of great wealth living in regal
circumstances, but with great concern for working
people, including children. Creditors of his
enterprises denounced him as a fraud and called for
his arrest on criminal charges. On February 5, 1839,
his case was scheduled to be reviewed by a jury at
the court. Upon arrival, Dyott was met with an
angry mob. Hurriedly, he dashed into the nearby
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
314
store of Jacob Ridgway and escaped through the
back door. Accounts of the case were published in
newspapers, overlapping advertisements for steam
engines as given above.
The case was held over, and the judge ordered
him bound over for $10,000 on a charge of
fraudulent insolvency. On March 30 the grand jury
returned a true bill against him. Niles? National
Register, April 6, 1839, had this account:
Dr. Dyott, the Banker. The Philadelphia papers state that the grand jury of that city have found a true bill containing the
following counts: 1. Colluding and contriving with T.B. and C.W. Dyott, to conceal goods, value $100,000.
2. Fraudulently conveying to T.B. and C.W. Dyott, goods, value $50,000.
3. Colluding and contriving with Th. W. Dyott, Jr., to conceal goods, value $50,000.
4. Fraudulently conveying to T.W. Dyott, Jr., goods, value $2,000.
5. Colluding and contriving with M.B. Dyott, to conceal goods, value $30,000.
6. Colluding and contriving with W. Wells to secrete $480 in money.
7. Fraudulently conveying to Julia Dyott furniture, value $1,000.
8. Concealing goods and merchandise, value $50,000.
9. Concealing $300,000 in money.
10. Concealing $100,000 in money.
11. Concealing $10,000 in money.
All with the expectation to receive future benefit to himself, and with the intent to defraud his creditors.
Then followed a long court trial, April 30 to June 1, on 11 indictments, later reduced to seven. Testimony was
contradictory, ranging from presenting Dyott as a benefactor to mankind who had simply suffered the widespread
effects of the panic, to a malicious criminal who sought to defraud his associates and creditors. On June 1st, the jury
returned a verdict against Dyott, guilty as charged on all counts.
The sentence was to be from one to seven years at hard labor, in
solitary confinement, the length being at the discretion of the judge.
On August 31 the judge delivered a sentence of three years of normal
imprisonment. The case was appealed, Dyott lost again, and went to
the Eastern Penitentiary.
Snippets from the Dyott Court Case
The Highly Interesting and Important Trial of Dr. T.W. Dyott, the
Banker, for Fraudulent Insolvency with the Speeches of Counsel, &c.
By the clerk?s office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1839,
contained 28 pages of court proceedings, prefaced by Dyott?s
testimony and that of his counsel, followed by others. James
Campbell and W.L. Hirst, esquires, acted for the State and Z. Phillips,
J.R. Ingersoll, and C.J. Ingersoll were attorneys for Dyott.
Dyott?s words and those of others shed light on certain dates and
details.
The case of Commonwealth Vs. T.W. Dyott opened in Criminal
Court, District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,
Wednesday, April 29, 1839, before the Hon. R.T. Conrad, with a jury
of citizens empaneled. Attorney Hirst opened for the prosecution and
presented a list of 11 alleged criminal acts that led to the indictment.
Hirst related that the examination of the situation had started on
February 20 and was completed on March 5. This included interviews
with the defendant.
First of 28 pages of the Dyott trial transcript.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
315
Dyott had commenced banking on February 2,
1836. ?His capital was real estate, pills and plasters,
phials and glasses; he considered himself worth, at that
time $600,000 or $700,000, valued his real estate at
$550,000.? After entering banking he bought the house
next above his bank for $16,000. Dyott claimed he was
not a bookkeeper, and thus few specific records were
available. After the petition was filed, a ?Mr. Calder
cold not tell whether the account in his ledger was right
or wrong; balance appears to be overdrawn $233,261.?
Cashier Stephen Simpson had desired that his own
accounts be kept and balanced, but that does not seem
to have been done until July 1837. After that time ?the
account was balanced every night, and the daily account
was in the books; his discounted notes were all privately
bought, he kept no bill book.? The last refers to Dyott
selling large quantities of bills at deep discounts and
keeping no record.
On Tuesday, May 2, the court reconvened at the
usual hour of ten in the morning. Mr. Hirst continued his
testimony based upon his earlier investigation. ?He said
that he asked Dr. Dyott if he could say how many bills
appeared discounted in the books of the bank. He said
he could not say what books they appeared in, or what
the amount was. He said he kept no memorandum,
private or public, of bills discounted.? Dyott related that
the discounted notes were ?shaved? (sharply
discounted) to get loans. Upon questioning if the amount
was half a million dollars, or what, Dyott had no
information. Bills were given to lenders such as
Ridgway and also to Dyott?s family, without records
being kept.
Dyott had related that in the summer of 1837 he had
sold his glassware and other stock to his son and nephew
for $150,000 and had been paid in Manual Labor Bank
bills. The glass factories were leased to his brother M.B.
Dyott for $25,000 per year in rent. Dr. Dyott related that
his brother ?had stripped it of everything.? [Nothing was
related how the operation was shut down or what
happened to the employees, the farm, and other people
and activities.] Mention was made of the new steam
engine manufactory at Dyottville that was expected to
add profit, but resulted in a loss. This was under the
aegis of his brother until his passing from ?mortification
of the throat? on December 31, 1838, seemingly leaving
little in the way of records. [The steam engines did not
operate properly despite Baldwin being on the premises
constantly; details in the Philadelphia Public Ledger,
March 1, 1839.] As to the amount of bank bills that had
been issued, Dr. Dyott said he did not know, but thought
it was about $140,000, not including post notes, and that
at one time there was $108,000 in an iron chest and some
other notes in the glass store.
Hirst then proposed to discuss three items that Dyott
had printed and distributed: ?A Reward of $500,? dated
November 6,1837; ?Final Arrangement of Business,?
December 5, 1837; and ?Regulations for the Business of
the Manual Labor Bank,? December 5, 1837. Attorney
Phillips then arose for the defense, stating that these had
nothing to do with the evidence and could not be
admitted into testimony.
Hirst then resumed his testimony, that regarding the
first, Dyott had said, ?It is my real estate. I got 500 or
1,000 copies of that pamphlet printed. None were
circulated with my knowledge or approbation.?
[Perhaps without was intended in the transcript?]
A bond was assigned to creditor Ridgway and was
publicized, as both men thought it would enhance the
apparent credit of the troubled bank. [Further testimony
seemed strange, such as Dyott selling his house furniture
to sister-in-law Julia Dyott because ?I wanted money.?]
?I was my own broker in getting a great many
discounts, but I cannot say the amount within
$100,000,? Dyott was quoted as saying. [This would
seem to indicate that hundreds of thousands of dollars in
bills had been issued; at the time it was standard policy
of various bank note printers to issue any quantities
called for, without any concern or investigation.
Numismatically, this reflects that no realistic estimate
can be made of the number of notes printed or issued.]
Dyott had told Hirst that he had acquired the glass
works 20 years earlier, when it was a ?mere swamp.? ?It
had cost him originally $42,000 and [he] had since spent
less than $300,000. It had 1,000- or 1,200-feet river
front. The house at the corner of Second and Race streets
cost him $15,000. He erected a warehouse on it which
cost $9,000. Bought the lot adjoining for $8.000, and [in
Dyottville] on 40 houses there was a mortgage of
$16,000, on a cost of $9,000, and on Dyottville [a
mortgage] of $20,000 and on the Second Street property
$29,000.?
Attorney Phillips related that when he began
banking, he was looking for a large capital for the glass
business, but had paid off most of it. ?Being asked why
he sold out his stock to his relations, he said that he gave
it to them, a as he had enough to attend to, , besides, he
would increase his banking capital by those means. He
was paying thirty per cent a year for money, and
expected to relieve himself by his bank. In a question
about money, he said, ?I am the Manual Labor Bank.?
Mr. Simpson is trusted by me entirely, he had the power
to manage everything, but much of the discounting was
done by me, and the bank never saw the notes.?
Later in court on the same day, Attorney Phillips
related that $115,000 in post notes was issued. Dyott
told Philipps that ?if he could have got out $500,000 of
his bills, and kept them out, he would have done very
well.? [It seems to the present-day reader and must have
seemed to the jury in 1839 that Dyott?s financial empire
was built on debt with an attempt to correct that by
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
316
fraud. This scenario was quite different from the early
accounts of workers happily working and singing, and
Dyottville being a model business and community.
During these procedures Dr. Dyott was brought from jail
to observe the court.
On Friday, May 3, the court opened at the usual
time, with prosecution Attorney Hirst continuing his
narrative, telling of his Dyott interviews: ?I examined
him when he stated that $10,800 of post notes were
made in December 1837, that $7,000 of them were put
in circulation, that there were $775 in 50s and 25s [sic]
issued with S. Simpson?s fac simile, that there was an
issue of $90,000 of post notes of large denominations,
that the greater part were issued?perhaps all, that there
were no fresh signatures of post notes after the
$115,000, and that was the whole amount. There was an
issue of $90,000 of cash notes on the day the bond was
reassigned, of which issue Mr. Ridgway has $40,000
and Captain Man had likewise $32,000.?
In other testimony it was related that the first time
Dyott saw Stephen Simpson was that when he was on
board a steamboat in which Simpson was a fellow
passenger. Dyott was seeking a charter for his bank, and
Simpson said he had the political connections to help,
including with President Jackson [who had nothing to
do with state banking]. It was then or shortly afterward
that Simpson suggested the proposed bank take a
political stance, and the Democratic Party was decided
upon, with working men being the base.
Dyott told him that his property was worth
$700,000, and Simpson said this was a fair figure. Going
forward to 1839, Dyott stated that he had no idea of what
his indebtedness was.
On the first day of the bank?s operation, Dr. Dyott
had brought in $150 in specie ?and perhaps there also
might have been from $50 to $100 in bank notes.?
Simpson understood that before the bank opened, Dyott
had issued $3,000 to $5,000 in bank notes that he and
Dyott had signed. Deposits rolled in to about $150,000,
all of which was personally turned over to Dyott, who
issued promissory notes in a like amount. The workmen
at the glass works were owned money, Dyott stated [and
it likely that some of the money went to them, but this
was not stated.]
On Monday, May 6, Dr. Dyott, who had been
indisposed and not able to leave prison, came to the
courtroom at the suggestion of prosecutor Hirst.
Stephen Simpson was then brought to the stand to
testify. His comments were wide-ranging. The earliest
issued of fractional bills went mainly to country
people?farmers and average citizens?and took the
place of coins after banks had suspended specie
payments. A copy of the printed ?Exposition of the
Manual Labor Bank? was shown, showcasing American
manufactures, particularly glass. In the first run 5,000 to
10,000 were distributed, followed by other editions up
to the fourth and possibly the fifth.
Simpson said that he did not know anything about
the post notes until he first saw them during the trial
depositions. Dyott countered this by saying that he and
Simpson ?had signed notes from 8 o?clock A.M. to 3
P.M., from 4 P.M. to 11 P.M., and from 5 A.M. to 7
A.M.? Dyott had wanted Simpson to ?sign as late at 12
and 1 at night.?
Going back to early 1837, there were clandestine
and unauthorized issues of paper money. After July
1837, according to Simpson, when citizens brought bills
of other banks to be deposited, Dyott took them
personally and replaced them with Bank of Manual
Labor notes.
In other testimony, seemingly contradictory, it was
stated that as of July 1838, Simpson had signed about
$100,000 in post notes and had delivered them to Dyott.
On Wednesday, May 8, Simpson was first on the
stand. On this and succeeding days, many details were
given of how bills were circulated, how assets were
moved around, and other matters largely beyond the
purview of the present narrative as they added little to
information about the signing of or quantities issued of
the notes.
There was a movement to implicate Jacob Ridgway,
whose name had appeared in advertisement as ?trustee?
of the bank. Testimony revealed that this was part of the
fraud, as Ridgway was owed a lot of money by Dyott
and suggested that as is (Ridgway?s) reputation as a
financier and civic leader was excellent, this would draw
more deposits. Ridgway emerged unscathed by the court
case.
Another Account of the Case
The November 1839 issue of The Merchant?s Magazine and Commercial Review included a lengthy
account, here excerpted.
Fraudulent Bankruptcy
The recent trial of Thomas W. Dyott, in Philadelphia, has caused so much excitement there, and is fraught with so much that
is instructive in a mercantile point of view, that we are induced to give an extended account of the case. A few years since, Dr.
Dyott established the famous Manual Labor Bank in Philadelphia, and by means of circulars, advertisements, and false
representations, induced a great many people, principally of the middling interest and poorer classes, to deposit their earnings in
his bank. The institution became insolvent, and the banker applied for a discharge as an insolvent. After a long examination, the
court refused to grant the application, and committed him to jail in accordance with the following provision of the law.?
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
317
There was also much documentary evidence. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. At a subsequent day, the defendant moved
for a new trial; but after a full and elaborate argument, the court overruled the motion, and he was sentenced to confinement in
the Eastern Penitentiary three years. Dr. Dyott is more than seventy years of age.?
?It is impossible,? says the Philadelphia Gazette, ?to contemplate the imprisonment of this man, at the age of seventy years,
with his gray hairs, in solitary confinement and at hard labor, without feelings of commiseration for himself, his family, and his
friends.? ?We believe,? adds that paper, ?Dr. Dyott guilty of fraudulent insolvency. The trial, after a long and most patient
investigation, has so decided.? And ?one cannot contemplate the losses of special depositors in the Dyott bank, without
indignation and sorrow; yet pity mingles with a feeling of justice, when the main actor in the fraud, bent with years, goes into
the gloomy recesses of a penitential cell, there, perhaps, to end his days.??
These were the principal facts in the case, on which the counsel for the government o that there was probable cause for
binding the defendant over to answer the following charges, viz.: 1. Conspiracy to establish an unlawful bank. 2. Conspiracy to
support an unlawful bank with a false capital. 3. Conspiracy to support an unlawful bank with a false capital, knowing the
representation of capital to be false. And each of these with a view to cheat and defraud the citizens of the Commonwealth.?
Beware of Over-Trading: If by depending upon fictitious credit, you extend your business very far beyond your real capital,
the hazard of bankruptcy and ruin will be great. In this case, you risk not only your own property, but that of your creditors,
which is hardly reconcilable with honest principles. When the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary, over-trading
becomes general; and, if any sudden change occurs in the state of the commerce or currency of the country, a revulsion must
inevitably ensue, and consign thousands to unexpected ruin.
After serving about a year and a half in prison, T.W.
Dyott was pardoned by Governor David Rittenhouse
Porter and became a free man.
Soon, his creditors caused his re-arrest as a debtor,
and he was sent to the Debtor?s Apartment at the
Moyamensing Prison, where he stayed for just a week
or two after Daniel Man stood as surety for his future
appearances in the Insolvent Court. His assets were
liquidated by sheriff?s sale and auction in 1841. It was
estimated that approximately $250,000 due to
depositors and bill holders of the Manual Labor Bank
might yield about 10 cents on the dollar.
In time, although Dyott never became prominent in
business, he fit back into the community. Products
bearing his name were advertised well into the 1840s,
these including Dyott?s Toothache Drops, Vegetable
Purgative Compound, and Circassian Eye Water, among
others.
Dyott lived among his society and friends until he
died of old age in Philadelphia on January 17, 1861. His
death certificate listed his occupation as druggist. He
was buried in the Union Church graveyard.
The Glass Factories: Epilogue
When Dyott went to prison, the glass factories were
idled. Later, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
secured the waterfront land on the Delaware River and
set up a depot for the off-loading of anthracite coal to be
shipped to distant ports.
Following advantages gained under the Tariff Act
of 1842, Henry Seybert rented the glass factory from
Lehigh, renovated the premises, and began making
bottles, with Eugene Roussel, a purveyor of mineral
water, as his most important customer. In later years the
factory changed hands multiple times but remained in
operation.
Starting in 2011, extensive archaeological
excavations were done at the factory site, described as
?at the intersection of Dyott Street and Richmond Street,
with Dyott Street to the south and Richmond Street to
the west, and the Delaware River to the east, situated
along the northeast shoulder of the Dyott-Richmond
streets intersection.? Under Dyottville Glass Works site
extensive information is presented.
Postscript
There is no escaping the fact that the Bank of Manual Labor was conceived and operated as a fraud. As such, it
stands as the largest such criminal action in early 19th century American banking history.
Acknowledgments
The following have helped with or corresponded concerning the present study: American Numismatic Society,
Charles Anderson, Thomas Denly, Jennifer Dow, David Gladfelter, Glass Works Auctions, Ferdinand Meyer V,
peachtreeglass.com, Eric Richter, Smithsonian Institution, and Stack?s Bowers Galleries.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
318
Bibliography
The Highly Interesting and Important Trial of Dr. T.W. Dyott, the Banker, for Fraudulent Insolvency with the
Speeches of Counsel, &c. Clerk?s office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1839.
History of Philadelphia 1609-1884, by John Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, Volume 3, 1884, pp. 2298,
2299 provided basic information (incorrect information has not been used).
American Glass, by Helen McKearin, Crown Publishers, 1948.
Bottles, Flasks and Dr. Dyott, by Helen McKearin, Crown Publishers, 1970.
American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry, by Helen McKearin and Kenneth Wilson, Crown Publishers,
1978.
?Dr. Thomas W. Dyott?A True Renaissance Man,? by Kevin A. Sives.
Style and Production Notes
Certain quotations have been lightly edited and misspellings corrected (the alternative would have been to have
burdened the reader with a long stream of sic notations). For example, the surname of financier Ridgway was often
misspelled as Ridgeway. Certain British spellings, inconsistent in original texts, such as favour, have been changed
to American usage. Deposite has been changed to deposit.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
319
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$1 Series of 1923
Silver Certificate
Signature Combination Transitions
Purpose and Overview
The purpose of this article to explain how the changeovers to new Treasury signature combinations
were handled within the $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates with a focus on why the Woods-Tate
combination became scarcer than expected.
$1 Series of 1923 silver certificate face production began during October 1923 and continued
through November 1928. Almost 2.7 billion were printed from 9,251 face plates assigned to the design.
The new series of notes resulted from a Treasury Department redesign program launched in 1921
by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon to standardize U. S. currency designs (Mellon, 1924, p.
88-90). The first of the new notes were the Series of 1923 $1 silver certificates, which began to be released
into circulation on December 1, 1923 (Mellon, 1925, p. 40).
Signers and Signature Changeovers
Three signature combinations appeared on the notes: Speelman-White, Woods-White and Woods-
Tate. More than 2.4 billion of them consisted of Speelman-White notes in stark contrast to a little over 223
million Woods-White and only 4.6 million Woods-Tate notes. The latter two were printed only during
1928.
Table 1. Executive officials in office during the Series of 1923 issues.
President: Dates in Office App?t by Supplemental Facts
Warren Gamaliel Harding Mar 4, 1921-Aug 2, 1923 Republican
John Calvin Coolidge Aug 2, 1923-Mar 4, 1929 Republican
Secretary of the Treasury:
Andrew William Mellon Mar 9, 1921-Feb 12, 1932 Harding Ambassador to England Apr 9, 1932-Mar 17, 1933
U. S. Treasurer:
Frank White May 2, 1921-May 1, 1928 Harding Republican Governor of North Dakota 1901-5; resigned in 1928
to become president of Southern Mortgage Guaranty
Corporation at Chattanooga, Tennessee
Harold Theodore Tate May 31, 1928-Jan 17, 1929 Coolidge formerly Deputy Treasurer
Register of the Treasury:
Harley V. Speelman Jan 25, 1922-Sep 30, 1927 Harding
Walter Orr Woods Oct 1, 1927-Jan 17, 1929 Coolidge appointed Treasurer Jan 18, 1929 by President Coolidge
The Paper
Column
Peter Huntoon
Figure 1. First Woods-Tate Series of 1923 silver certificate. Doug Murray photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
321
Signature combination changeovers for the high-volume Treasury currency printed at the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing had to be transitional affairs because production could not stop while the existing
pipeline was emptied of notes with the old combination before the new could commence. Instead, the new
signature combination had to be phased in. There were two considerations in this regard, plate making and
printing.
Prior to 1920, they generally would terminate the manufacture of plates with the obsolete signature
combination as soon as they started making the new. Of course, at this point they had stocks of plates
bearing both the obsolete and new combinations. They would continue to print from both until the plates
with the old combination were consumed.
During this transition period, they separated the production of a given class and denomination into
two streams by signature combination, often to the point of even assigning unique serial number block
letters to each. A serial number block refers to the paired prefix and suffix letters or characters that enclose
the serial number on a note. Serial A12345678B is from block AB. This practice of having two streams just
about doubled the work of producing the notes.
In 1920, they terminated that practice as being seriously inefficient. Instead, production of the two
combinations was merged into a single stream and the notes were consecutively numbered without regard
to the signatures on them. This change greatly simplified operations and constitute a significant economy
measure.
In 1928, when the new Woods-White combination came along, they also phased in making plates
with the new combination, instead of abruptly terminating the old. There was an industrial impulse behind
this change. At the time, all the face plates used in $1 silver certificate production were 8-subject electrolytic
plates. These plates were made by electrolytically depositing metal onto a mold of the plate rather than
laboriously transferring the designs onto blank pieces of steel using traditional Perkins roll-transfer
technology.
Electrolytic plate making was the invention of George U. Rose of the BEP and was first applied to
the manufacture of currency production plates for $1 1899 SC and $1 1917 LT backs beginning in 1921.
Thanks to a political bruhaha, the electrolytic facility was closed between 1922 and 1924 (Huntoon, 2016).
The first currency plate produced after it reopened in 1924 was $1 Series 1923 back 95819/1109 certified
November 18, 1924. The first production face plate to come out of the facility was $1 1923 Speelman-
White 96648/1911 certified January 6, 1925.
After Woods took office on October 1, 1927, an electrolytic master plate was made bearing the new
Woods-White combination that was certified December 5, 1927. It carried Treasury plate number 111686
but no plate serial number. It was used to create altos?the molds?that were used to make the Woods-
White production plates. The first of them was plate 6 certified January 27, 1928. See Table 2.
Figure 2. Signers on the $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates. From left to right: Harley V. Speelman, Register;
Frank White, Treasurer; Walter O. Woods, Register; H. Theodore Tate, Treasurer. Wikipedia and Library of
Congress photos.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
322
Table 2. Certification dates for the $1 Series of 1923 silver certificate Woods-White plates interspersed among
Speelman-White plates & Woods-Tate plates interspersed among Woods-White plates.
* * * indicates that there were intervening plates.
Plate Serial Number Plate Serial Number
Treasury Speelman- Woods- Woods- Certification Treasury Speelman- Woods- Woods- Certification
Pl No White White Tate Date Notes Pl No White White Tate Date Notes
90568 1 Oct 16, 1923 113114 23 Feb 1, 1928 no 24
* * * 113116 8335 Feb 6, 1928
112949 8236 Jan 9, 1928 113117 8336 Feb 2, 1928
112950 2 Jan 31, 1928 first WW, no 1, 3, 4 113118 8337 Feb 18, 1928
112956 8237 Jan 7, 1928 113119 25 Jan 31, 1928
* * * 113120 26 Feb 11, 1928
113032 8291 Jan 21, 1928 113121 27 Feb 1, 1928 no 28
113034 5 Feb 1, 1928 113123 8338 Feb 9, 1928
113035 6 Jan 27, 1928 113124 8339 Feb 6, 1928
113036 8292 Jan 27, 1928 113125 8340 Feb 15, 1928
113037 8293 Jan 16, 1928 113126 8341 Jan 31, 1928
113038 8294 Jan 16, 1928 113127 8342 Feb 1, 1928
113039 8295 Jan 18, 1928 113128 8343 Jan 31, 1928
113040 8296 Feb 3, 1928 113129 8344 Feb 1, 1928
113041 8297 Jan 19, 1928 113130 29 Feb 1, 1928
113043 8298 Jan 19, 1928 113131 8345 Feb 9, 1928
113044 8299 Jan 18, 1928 113132 30 Jan 31, 1928
113045 8300 Jan 19, 1928 113133 31 Feb 1, 1928
113046 8301 Jan 21, 1928 113134 32 Jan 31, 1928
113047 8302 Feb 13, 1928 113135 33 Feb 13, 1928
113048 7 Jan 31, 1928 113136 34 Feb 9, 1928
113050 8303 Jan 31, 1928 113169 8346 Feb 6, 1928
113051 8304 Jan 20, 1928 113170 8347 Feb 17, 1928
113052 8305 Jan 23, 1928 113171 35 Feb 6, 1928
113053 8306 Jan 28, 1928 113172 36 Feb 11, 1928
113054 8 Jan 31, 1928 113173 37 Feb 20, 1928
113055 9 Feb 6, 1928 113174 38 Feb 3, 1928
113056 10 Feb 1, 1928 113175 39 Feb 6, 1928
113071 11 Feb 1, 1928 113176 8348 Feb 10, 1928
113058 8308 Jan 28, 1928 113177 3849 Feb 9, 1928
113059 9309 Jan 21, 1928 113178 3850 Feb 13, 1928
113060 9310 Jan 21, 1928 no 9311 113179 3851 Feb 10, 1928
113062 9312 Jan 27, 1928 113180 3852 Feb 15, 1928
113063 9313 Jan 24, 1928 113181 8353 Feb 13, 1928 last SW
113064 9314 Jan 25, 1928 113182 40 Feb 8, 1928
113066 9315 Jan 31, 1928 * * *
113067 9316 Jan 31, 1928 no 9317 114287 491 Jun 5, 1928
113069 9318 Feb 7, 1928 114373 1 Jun 20, 1928 first WT
113070 8319 Jan 31, 1928 114374 2 Jun 20, 1928
113072 12 Feb 1, 1928 114375 3 Jun 21, 1928
113073 8320 Jan 27, 1928 113476 4 Jun 19, 1928
113074 8321 Feb 3, 1928 114377 5 Jun 19, 1928
113075 8322 Jan 31, 1928 114378 6 Jun 22, 1928
113076 13 Feb 1, 1928 114379 7 Jun 22, 1928
113077 14 Jan 31, 1928 114380 8 Jun 25, 1928
113078 15 Feb 1, 1928 114396 492 Aug 13, 1928
113079 16 Feb 1, 1928 114397 493 Jul 9, 1928 no 494
113080 8323 Feb 3, 1928 114404 495 Aug 6, 1928
112081 8324 Jan 25, 1928 114405 496 Jul 3, 1928
113082 8325 Feb 1, 1928 114413 497 Jul 9, 1928
113083 8326 Feb 1, 1928 114414 498 Jun 29, 1928
113084 8327 Feb 4, 1928 114425 499 Jul 6, 1928
113085 8328 Jan 28, 1928 114426 500 Aug 20, 1928
113094 8329 Jan 27, 1928 114427 9 Jul 2, 1928
113095 8330 Feb 2, 1928 114428 10 Jul 3, 1928
113096 8331 Jan 31, 1928 114429 11 Jun 27, 1928
113097 8332 Feb 2, 1928 114430 12 Jul 3, 1928
113098 17 Feb 1, 1928 114431 13 Jul 6, 1928
113099 18 Feb 6, 1928 114432 14 Jul 9, 1928
113100 19 Jan 31, 1928 114433 15 Jul 2, 1928
113109 8333 Jan 27, 1928 114434 16 Jul 3, 1928 last WT
113110 8334 Feb 8, 1928 114440 501 Jul 2, 1928
113111 20 Jan 31, 1928 * * *
113112 21 Feb 1, 1928 no 22 115698 852 Nov 6, 1928 last WW
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It was convenient to continue making Speelman-White electrolytic plates while they got up to speed
with the new Woods-White electros. This transition took place over a two-week period as revealed on Table
2. Notice that the plates are arranged in Treasury plate number order, which is the order in which the
signature combinations were assigned to them. The intermixing of the Speelman-White and Woods-White
plates occurred between January 27 and February 8, 1928.
All plate production shifted solely to Woods-White by the first week of February and 452 more of
them were made in the next four months.
In short order though, Treasurer White resigned on May 1, 1928 late during Coolidge?s presidency
to become president of Southern Mortgage Guaranty Corporation at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Coolidge
appointed H. Theodore Tate to replace him on May 31. The Senate was not in session so Tate?s appointment
was a recess appointment and it was apparent from the outset that his tenure in the office would be short.
He served for only seven and a half months at which time Walter Woods was promoted from Register to
Treasurer on January 18, 1929.
Things became a bit strange. The Bureau began making Woods-Tate $1 plates, but only in two
token 8-plate groups in late June and early July. See Table 2. All sixteen of those plates were steel made by
the laborious Perkins roll-transfer process. The first eight were begun June 5, 1928 and the second June 13-
14. A seventeenth plate also was begun along with the June 5th batch; specifically, Treasury plate number
114380, which was an electrolytic master without a plate serial number.
In the meantime, and thereafter, they continued to make a flurry of Woods-White electrolytic plates
numbering in the hundreds until the series ran out in November. In fact, there were so many Series of 1923
Woods-White electros left over when the small note era started, the last 34 of them were canceled unused.
Woods-Tate electrolytic plates never went into production, although all sixteen of the steel plates
were sent to press and consumed.
Obviously, Woods-Tate production was overwhelmed by Woods-White. Ironically, the last $1
notes printed in the series were Woods-White, not Woods-Tate. See Table 3 and Figure 3.
Table 3. Inclusive dates of use for the plates used to print the $1 Series of 1923 silver certificate Treasury signature
combinations.
Lowest Plate Number Highest Plate Number
Pl. Ser. Treas. Pl. Ser. Treas.
Signature Combination No. Pl. No. No. Pl. No. Inclusive On-Press Dates
Speelman-White 1 90568 8353 113181 Oct 18, 1923-Oct 25, 1928
Woods-White 2 112950 852 115698 Feb 14, 1928-Nov 23, 1928
Woods-Tate 1 114373 16 114434 Jun 21, 1928-Sep 12, 1928
Serial Numbering and Changeover Pairs
The simultaneous production of notes with different signature combinations coupled with merging
all into one stream for numbering resulted in mixing of different signature combinations within several
serial number blocks and also the creation of what collectors call forward and backward signature
changeover pairs.
The mechanics of this were as follows. The Series of 1923 $1s were printed on 4-plate power
presses. Plates with the different signature combinations were mixed on those presses. The sheets leaving
1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928
Speelman-White
Woods-White
oods-Tate
Figure 3. Illustration of the concurrent production of $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates with different
Treasury signature combinations during 1928.
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the presses fed into a common pile where the sheets cycled through the plates present on the press. Then
the outputs from the other presses were merged before numbering.
The 8-subject sheets were then cut in half and fed through 4-subject Harris overprinting, separating
and collating machines where they received their Treasury seals and serial numbers. Numbering was down
the 4-subject half sheets. Therefore, the signature combinations on the notes alternated back and forth when
the signature combinations on the half sheets differed. Both forward and backward changeover pairs
resulted. See Figure 4.
Table 4. serial number blocks bearing the various signature combinations used on $1 Series of 1923 silver
certificates.
Register Treasurer SC 1923 $1 Serial Number Block Letters
Harley V. Speelman Frank White AB DB EB HB KB MB NB RB TB VB XB YB ZB AD BD ED HD KD MD ND
RD TD VD XD YD ZD AE BE *D
Walter O. Woods Frank White VD XD YD ZD AE BE *D
Walter O. Woods H. Theodore Tate YD ZD AE BE *D
Table 5. Serial number blocks where signature changeover pairs are possible on $1 Series of 1923 silver
certificates.
Blocks with changeover pairs that have been reported:
Speelman-White/Woods-White VD, XD, YD, ZD, AE, BE
Speelman-White/Woods-Tate ZD
Blocks with changeover pairs that are possible but not reported:
Speelman-White/Woods-White *D
Speelman-White/Woods-Tate YD, AE, BE, *D
Woods-White/Woods-Tate YD, AE, BE, *D
Precedents
Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon?s desire to standardize the look of U. S. currency
modeled after the appearance of the Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes began to bear fruit with the $1
Series of 1923 silver certificates and $1 and $10 legal tender notes. His concept was to have faces with
centered portraits consisting of the same person for a given denomination regardless of class and uniform
Figure 4. $1 Series of 1923 silver certificate changeover pair from Speelman-White to Woods-White. Heritage
Auction archives photos.
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backs for each denomination. Movement of the program proved to be glacial and got tripped up by the
unsuccessful $5 Series of 1923 porthole silver certificates (Lofthus, 2014). More importantly, it lost urgency
as attention within Treasury turned to implementing reduced size currency.
Despite these problems, the success of the $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates is revealed in the
facts that the 1923 design was simply shrunk to produce the small size Series of 1928 $1s and the rest of
the small size notes met Secretary Mellon?s criteria.
The Series of 1923 was the last series of Treasury currency to bear the signature of the Register of
the Treasury. William S. Broughton, Commissioner of the Public Debt Service, launched a campaign within
the Department of the Treasury to replace the Register?s signature with that of the Secretary of the Treasury.
His justification was that the Secretary is the chief financial officer of the nation. Furthermore, by 1927, the
duties of the Register of the Treasury no longer had any connection with currency issues so use of his
signature was an anachronism. Broughton argued that the Secretary is charged with the issuance of Treasury
currency and the Treasurer is the active agent in their issuance. He also pointed out that the Secretary and
Treasurer signatures were logically placed on the Series of 1914 FRNs at the discretion of the then Secretary
of the Treasury William McAdoo and those issues could serve as precedence for the change (Broughton,
1927-1928).
The Secretary of the Treasury had legislative authority over the design of the currency. However,
Secretary Mellon modestly stated that he preferred not to make the change. BEP Director Alvin W. Hall
joined with Broughton to press for the change, so finally on May 15, 1928, Mellon signed off on it. By then,
the first of the $1 Series of 1928 silver certificate plates had gone into production with the
Register/Treasurer combination. They were supplanted with plates bearing the Treasurer/Secretary
combination (Huntoon, 2007).
Alvin Hall had assumed the directorship of the BEP in 1924, a man seriously committed to
efficiency and cost control. Continued use of serviceable plates with obsolete signatures had been a practice
at the Bureau since its inception. Comingling of production from plates regardless of signature combination
prior to serial numbering was first instituted in 1920 under Director James L. Wilmeth within the Series of
1899 $1 silver certificates during the transition from the Teehee-Burke to Elliott-Burke combinations. Both
practices suited Hall on the basis of economic efficiency so he made no change to them.
The result was that they were carried forward into the small note era and remained in effect until
the last of the 12-subject plates was phased out in 1953. By then new machinery had been phased in so
overprinting of the Treasury signatures first implemented with the Series of 1935 $1s had finally
transcended all the classes and denominations then in use. Serial number blocks that sported multiple
signature combinations and changeover pairs prevailed during the 12-subject era and became fertile ground
for legions of small note enthusiasts.
Some collectors of small size notes recognized that the manufacturing practices that created
different signature combinations within the serial number blocks as well as changeover pairs had been
Figure 5. The first
attempt at making Series
of 1923 look-a-like Series
of 1928 silver certificates
sported the signatures of
the Register of the
Treasury and Treasurer.
This was changed in due
course as the signature
issue wound its way
through the Treasury at
the end of the Series of
1923 era. Notice White
was still in office when
the top plate was made.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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inherited from the Series of 1899 and 1923. Consequently, those large-size notes could be collected in the
same manner.
A Collectors Tale
The following is the best yarn that I ever ran across involving a large size $1 note of any series.
This is the story of the note featured here as Figure 1.
There is a serial number press room log book that spans the last of the large size $1 silver certificates
in the BEP Historical Resource Center. Both Doug Murray and I independently dug through it and found
the same typed memo inserted into the book by some operative.
Notice. Package No. Y82700001D to Y82704000D contains the first sheet from plate No. 1 of $1 Silver
Certificates, series 1923, No. Y82700001D to Y82700008D, bearing the signature of H. T. Tate, Treasurer
of the United States.
Murray came across the memo sometime around 1985-6. I probably saw it a decade earlier. Both
of us copied the information being delighted to learn exactly what serial number was on the first Tate-
Woods $1. However, the difference between us is that I filed the information away as a curiosity, whereas
Murray retained a vivid memory of it!
Miraculously, the actual note survived and turned up as an e-bay lot offered by rvbidder from
Phoenix, Arizona. Bidding for it closed on December 5, 2000. We have no idea where that seller got it.
The sellers tag?rvbidder?conjures up an image of a retiree working out of his recreational vehicle
while wintering in Phoenix! He and the note could have come from any place in the country where
snowbirds originate, but this is pure speculation. The e-mail address provided for this account no longer is
in service, so we weren?t able to pursue the story any further back in time.
The note probably originated from Tate himself, because such pieces usually come from the
signers. This was Tate?s first note, but not Woods.
The note graded an attractive clean vf-xf with moderate quarter folds. It doesn?t appear to have
been actively circulated, but it definitely was handled, maybe even having been carried as a pocket piece
for a while by Tate.
A Tate-Wood 1923 $1 silver certificate is not common, so this attractive item brought $96.99, and
the lucky buyer was Rob Havrish. Havrish spotted the fact that the note was from the YD serial number
block. In fact, he recognized that it was the first Tate note to turn up from the YD block, so the serial number
was by far the lowest serial number reported for the type.
He took it to the Chicago Paper Money Expo in March 2001 where he showed it to large-size census
taker Martin Gengerke. Havrish wondered at the time if it might be a first note because of the 00001 ending
numbers in the serials. He also made contact with someone from the Bank Note Reporter while at the show,
with the result that the note was illustrated as a discovery block in the April 2001 issue.
Gengerke told Murray at CPMX that he had just seen a YD Tate note on the floor, so Murray
immediately tracked down Havrish to see the note. Fortunately for Murray, Havrish had a weakness for
FRN star notes from Minneapolis, so by April they had negotiated a very stiff trade. Murray forfeited
outright a $100 Series of 1934B I00019460* and a $50 Series of 1950 I00008097*, plus sold Havrish a $5
Series of 1934 I00073993* to sweeten the deal.
Already, this story is virtually unbelievable. Just what were all the odds? But here is where the tale
takes a truly bizarre twist. Now that Murray owned the note, he was inextricably drawn to the BEP so he
could attempt to relocate and photocopy the memo proclaiming its authenticity.
He scheduled a 4-day research trip to DC with time allotted for prearranged visits to the BEP,
Smithsonian Institution and National Archives. He even coordinated his visit with one of mine. We showed
up at the BEP at 8:30 am on the morning of September 11, 2001.
Murray was carrying his note with him. We signed in and were escorted to the BEP Historical
Resource Center located on the fifth floor of the BEP Annex Building. In short order, in the company of
Curator Cecilia Wertheimer, Murray located the serial number log book among a group of them in a storage
area on the 6th floor while I was looking at other records up there.
Just then the phone rang and one of Cecilia?s aides told her that a plane had just hit one of the
World Trade Center towers.
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Murray carried the serial number log book downstairs to the reading area in the Historical Resource
Center, which faces west. All hell was breaking loose in the room. Staffers had switched their computers
to CNN, and everyone was crowded around watching the pandemonium in New York.
Murray sensed that his research effort was in jeopardy, so he quickened his pace, unaware of the
seriousness of the events taking place at the Trade Towers. At the moment it appeared to be a tragic collision
by a plane. But then the second tower was hit.
Murray found the memo at just about the same moment that the third plane plowed into the
Pentagon, and a thick black plume of smoke lofted up from behind the main BEP building to our west. The
whole room was in chaos.
Murray rushed over to the photocopy machine with his note and the memo to make a couple of
side-by-side copies. On his return, he proudly showed the note and memo to Mrs. Wertheimer who
immediately exclaimed ?Do you have a property removal permit for that from the guard downstairs??
Taken completely by surprise, Murray said ?No!?
While Cecilia reached for a property removal permit, and delegated the task of filling it out to an
aide, Doug concocted a statement for her to attest to his mating of the note and memo 75 years after both
had been made. Remarkably, within the atmosphere of agitation and confusion that filled the room, she
quickly wrote out the testament on one of his photocopies.
A large boom shook the room. In short order phone callers claimed the State Department Building
had just been hit. It wasn?t until a couple of days later that newspaper accounts revealed that it was a sonic
boom from a jet scrambled to meet other incoming planes.
As the boom rolled past, Huntoon watched roofers on the main BEP building, who had stopped
work and were looking west toward the Pentagon fire, bolt from their perches and slide down scaffolding
to the ground below and run away into the streets. Printers simultaneously burst from the ground floor doors
of the main building and also disappeared from view.
One woman in the room was on her phone trying to get permission to evacuate, but that was delayed
for many tens of minutes. Finally, the order came down, ?Get out, and do it NOW.?
We all rushed downstairs to the main exit, the guards impatiently waving the growing stream of
people out the heavy doors as fast as possible onto 14th Street. No customary searches, no sign outs, no
processing of property removal permits?just get out!
Murray found himself on the street with his note, photocopies and unprocessed property pass in
hand. We watched the black smoke billow overhead from the Pentagon. Sirens screamed in the distance.
When Murray finally got a look at the property removal permit, he saw eerily that the serial number
on it was 91011.
Figure 6. Heritage Auction
Archives photos.
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Postscript
SPEELMAN IS OUSTED AS TREASURY REGISTER
Ohio Man Surprised When the
President Names W. O. Woods
of Kansas for the Post.
Special to the New York Times
Washington, June 28.?Harley V. Speelman of Marietta, Ohio, who was appointed Register of the
Treasury by President Harding in 1921, will retire from that office on Aug. 1, under unusual circumstances.
He will be succeeded by W. O. Woods of Concordia, Kan., at present a member of the War Loan Board
staff.
Announcement of this prospective change in Treasury personnel was made late this afternoon by
Secretary Mellon. Early in the day a dispatch came from Rapid City, S. D., where President Coolidge is
spending his Summer vacation, that the President had chosen Mr. Woods to fill a vacancy created by the
resignation of Register Speelman. Apprised of the purport of the news from Rapid City, Mr. Speelman said
that he had not resigned and had no intention of doing so.
Late Register Speelman was summoned to the office of Secretary Mellon. Then followed Mr.
Mellon?s announcement that the change as indicated would take place on Aug. 1.
The explanation was made by Treasury officials that Mr. Speelman?s retirement and the appointment
of Mr. Woods had been decided upon some time ago, but apparently the fact was not communicated to Mr.
Speelman until late today. Treasury officials suggested that there had been ?premature? action at Rapid
City and they appeared to be as much surprised over the official announcement of Mr. Wood?s appointment
as was Mr. Speelman himself.
The Register plainly indicated that the news from Rapid City completely puzzled him, as he had not
resigned and saw no reason why he should do so. He made no comment on the situation after his talk with
Secretary Mellon.
No reason was given by Secretary Mellon for the change. He states simply that Mr. Speelman?s
resignation would take effect on Aug. 1 and that on that date Mr. Woods would be sworn as Register. The
place pays $5,600 a year.
References Cited and Sources of Data
Broughton, William S, 1927-1928, Various internal Treasury memos arguing for the use of the signatures of the Secretary of the
Treasury and Treasurer of the United States on small size currency: Bureau of the Public Debt correspondence files,
Series K Currency, K724.5, Record Group 53, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1863-1985, Certified proofs lifted from currency plates: National Numismatic Collection,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Custodian of Dies, Rolls and Plates, various dates, Ledger and historical record of stock in
miscellaneous vault, 4-8-12 sub faces and backs: Record Group 318, (450/79/17/02 containers 41 & 42), U. S. National
Archives, College Park, MD.
Gengerke, Martin, on-demand, Census of U. S. large size currency: gengerke@aol.com.
Huntoon, Peter, Sep-Oct 2007, The Series of 1928 design that failed: Paper Money, v. 46, p. 323-328.
Huntoon, Peter, Jan-Feb 2016, Invention and evolution of electrolytic plate making at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Paper
Money, v. 55, p. 4-17.
Lofthus, Lee, Mar-Apr 2014, Why $5 porthole sliver certificates are scarce: Paper Money, v. 53, p. 102-103.
Mellon, Andrew W., 1924, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1923: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 987 p.
Mellon, Andrew W., 1925, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1924: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 874 p.
New York Times, Jun 29, 1927, Speelman is ousted as Treasury Register, p. 35.
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1917-1924
A Burst of New Type Notes
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explain why so many type notes appeared and disappeared during
the period 1917 to 1924. We will focus on $1s because they experienced the most changes. You will
discover that the elephant in the room was the Pittman Act of 1918 that relegated huge stocks of Morgan
silver dollars to the melting pot. But economic needs and new Treasury policies were afoot before and after
that act that seriously played into this tale.
We?ll jump into the midst of this story by starting with the Pittman Act.
Pittman Act of April 22, 1918
Key Pittman, long-serving Democratic U. S. Senator from Nevada from 1913 to 1940, was born
1872 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and died in office. He was educated as a lawyer but joined the Klondike
gold rush as a fortune-seeker in 1897. He arrived in Dawson in September before the winter freeze
precluded most others in the rush from getting there. That first winter was harsh and he made no strikes the
following year, so in 1899 he made the 2,200-mile trip down the Yukon River and across Norton Sound to
the newly discovered golden sands of Nome. There he had his most success practicing law and was voted
in as city attorney of the newly formed town. He married Mimosa Gates in 1900 but she had to leave for
California for her health in 1901 and Key followed. Still chasing metal, this time silver, he relocated to the
silver boom town of Tonopah in 1902 where he continued his law career. He was a congenial man,
intelligent, articulate and shrewd, often characterized as colorful owing to alcoholism. As senator, upon
election of FDR in 1933 he rose through seniority to both chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and serve as President Pro Tempore. Israel (1963) and Glad (1986).
Pittman?s popularity in Nevada stemmed from the fact that he assiduously looked out for the
interests of the state, which he perceived as mining, livestock and reclamation.
Great Britain found itself in urgent need of silver to provide specie for India during WW I. India
enjoyed a trade surplus with Britain during the war that was exacerbated by also fielding some one million
Indian troops in Mesopotamia, Persia and East Africa on behalf of the British Crown, which were paid by
Britain (Damodaran, 2014). The monetary unit in India was the silver rupee so silver flowed to India.
Maintaining that flow was essential for Britain in order not to further inflame the growing Indian
The Paper
Column
Peter Huntoon
The Paper
Column
Peter Huntoon &
Lee Lofthus
Figure 1. The only current $1s in circulation between 1900 and 1917 were silver certificates.
Withdrawal of them because their silver dollar backing was being melted and sold beginning
in 1918 required that the Treasury provide substitutes. Heritage Auction Archives photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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independence movement.
The United States had ample silver and much of
it was in stocks held by the U. S. Treasury in the form of
silver dollars against which silver certificates were
issued. Pittman smelled opportunity for Nevada silver
miners and sponsored the so-called Pittman Act of April
22, 1918, formally entitled ?An act to conserve the gold
supply of the United States; to permit the settlement in
silver of trade balances adverse to the United States; to
provide for subsidiary coinage and for commercial use; to
assist foreign governments at war with the enemies of the
United States; and for the above purposes to stabilize the
price and encourage the production of silver.?
The centerpiece of the legislation was
authorization for the Treasury to melt up to 350,000,000
million silver dollars for sale at not less than $1 per ounce.
Because those dollars were backing for silver certificates,
the act stipulated that an equal amount of silver
certificates had to be retired. This would lead to a
contraction in the currency supply.
Therefore, Section 5 provided: ?That in order to
prevent contraction of the currency, the Federal Reserve
banks may be either permitted or required by the Federal
Reserve Board, at the request of the Secretary of the
Treasury, to issue Federal Reserve bank notes, in any
denominations (including denominations of $1 and $2)
authorized by the Federal Reserve Board, in an aggregate
amount not exceeding the amount of standard silver dollars melted * * *.? The Federal Reserve bank notes
were to be secured by the deposit with the Treasurer of U. S. certificates of indebtedness or one-year gold
notes purchased by the issuing banks.
Figure 2. 1918 photo of Key Pittman. Pittman
was a Democratic Senator from Nevada who
won passage of the 1918 Congressional act that
authorized the melting of silver dollars so the
bullion could be sold to Great Britain. Wikipedia
photo.
Figure 3. The Pittman Act
called for $1 and $2 Federal
Reserve bank notes to
replace silver certificates
withdrawn concurrent with
the melting of their silver
dollar backing. Heritage
Action Archives photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Upon the sale of the bullion, the Secretary of the Treasury was to immediately direct the Director
of the Mint to purchase silver mined in the United States at the rate of $1 per ounce for resale under the
terms of the act and for the minting of new silver dollars equal in number to those melted. Silver certificates
backed by the new dollars were to be issued. As the new silver dollars were minted, an equal value of the
Federal Reserve bank notes was to be retired.
The Secretary of the Treasury (Mellon, 1928, p. 71-75) reported:
Melting of silver dollars was commenced immediately after the act was passed, and was vigorously
prosecuted at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints and at the New York Assay Office, until in May
1919, 259,121,554 silver dollars had been melted and the 200,032,325.64 fine ounces of bullion resulting
therefrom had been sold to Great Britain. * * * In addition, * * * 11,111,168 silver dollars were melted and
assigned for subsidiary silver coinage. However, this transaction was subsequently canceled, and the silver
dollars so melted were replaced with silver dollars coined from silver in kind.
The total number of silver dollars melted * * * was 270,232,722.
The purchase of domestically produced silver bullion for replacing the silver dollars converted to
bullion and sold to Great Britain was commenced in May, 1920, and all purchases of silver required to
replace the silver dollars so sold were completed in June, 1923, with the exception of about 190,000 ounces
representing incomplete deliveries of amounts accepted up to June, 1923. Deliveries on account of the
190,000 ounces were completed in July, 1927. The quantity of silver required for recoining 259,121,554
silver dollars of exact legal silver content, disregarding the question of operative losses, was
200,414,327.07 fine ounces. Monthly receipts of purchases of silver by the mint service institutions during
the 3-year period from May 1920, to June, 1923, averaged approximately 5,000,000 ounces, the purchases
absorbing practically the entire silver production of the Unites States for this period. These purchases were
made at the fixed price of $1 per fine ounce, while the market rate during this time was usually below 70
cents.
Much of the silver sold to Britain had been purchased by the Treasury at about fifty cents per ounce
so the effort was lucrative for the Treasury. Clearly, the program constituted a direct subsidy to Pittman?s
mining constituents in Nevada. The impact on the circulation of silver certificates is illustrated graphically
on Figure 4. The first of the new silver dollars were dated 1921, the first made since 1904.
Impact on the Currency
The major impact of the Pittman Act was to dramatically reduce the circulation of silver certificates.
Because the majority of them were low denomination notes, the supply of $1s and $2s as well as $5s were
scavenged from the money supply. At the time, $1 silver certificates comprised the vast majority of $1
notes in circulation so this reduction posed a serious inconvenience to the public. The Treasury had to
provide mitigation.
Section 5 of the Pittman
Act authorized the Series of 1918
Federal Reserve bank notes with the
important stipulation that the series
could include $1 and $2 notes.
Obviously, this provision became
one tool in the toolbox that Treasury
used to pump up the supply of $1s
and $2s.
By August, the New York
Times was reporting ?Two new
greenbacks?the first of the
nation?s wartime currency?are in
circulation. They are the $1 and $2
Federal Reserve bank notes planned
specially to replace the silver
certificates withdrawn from
circulation as the Treasury?s silver Figure 4. Outstanding value of silver certificates, 1900 to 1928.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
333
reserve is melted into bullion for export to the Allies? (NYT, Aug 28, 1918, p. 6).
Important when considering the Series of 1918 FRBNs was that Section 6 of the Pittman Act
stipulated that as fast as new silver dollars were coined corresponding amounts of FRBNs were to be
redeemed. Consequently, the Series of 1918 was designed to be short lived. It was recognized that silver
certificates would be issued that were backed by the new silver dollars, because the public preferred paper
dollars rather than coins.
Of course, while the silver melt was occurring, Treasury?s need for silver certificates fell through
the floor. The production of $1s, $2s and $5s Series of 1899 silver certificates at the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing was severely curtailed. The printing of workhorse $1 Series of 1899 silver certificates had
never ceased prior to passage of the act but, in fact, was halted entirely for a full year inclusive of March
17, 1920 through March 16, 1921. This break occurred between Series of 1899 $1 serials D52424000A and
D52424001A.
Series of 1899 $2s and $5s production also was curtailed sharply. Although a paltry 24 million $5s
were printed, none were delivered to the Treasury during fiscal years 1919 and 1920 (July 1, 1918 through
June 30, 1920). The printing of Series of 1891 $20s and 1908 $10s silver certificates ceased entirely after
fiscal year 1919 and those denominations as well as higher denomination silvers never went into production
again for the rest of the large note era.
As will be revealed, the public?s need for small denomination notes was not fulfilled solely by $1
and $2 Series of 1918 FRBNs during the period when the silver certificates were pulled from circulation.
Shortage of Low Denomination Notes
As of 1916, the only legislation that authorized the issuance of $1 and $2 notes were the acts of
August 4, 1886 for silver certificates and March 4, 1907 for legal tender notes. However, no legal tender
$1 or $2 notes had been printed since the close of fiscal year 1896. Consequently, $1 and $2 silver
certificates were all that were being printed.
The U. S. Treasurer stated in 1916 that the demand for smaller denominations was great and
growing (McAdoo, 1917, p. 280, 282). By 1917, Treasurer John Burke reported ?Experience in recent years
makes clear that the supply of small notes is not equal to the demand? (McAdoo, 1918, p. 175). These
concerns involved all denominations through the $10s, but especially $1s and $2s. For example, there had
been a 28 percent increase in the circulation of $1 between July 1, 1915 and July 1, 1917 (McAdoo, 1918,
p. 176).
Treasury officials were working diligently by 1917 to overcome these shortages using whatever
means they had at their disposal, including getting legislation passed to help.
Secretary William McAdoo moved quickly on the problem. ?The Secretary of the Treasury on
December 22, 1916, under the provisions of the act of March 4, 1907, authorized the issue of $1 and $2
United States notes? (McAdoo, 1918, p. 372). These consisted of Series of 1917 Teehee-Burke notes, the
first of which were $1s delivered to the Treasury from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on July 1,
1918 (BEP, 1910-1929).
Figure 5. Secretary
McAdoo authorized
the issuance of $1
and $2 legal tender
notes in December
1916, the first since
fiscal year 1896.
Heritage Auction
Archives photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
334
The total outstanding circulation of legal tender notes was fixed at $346,681,016 by the Act of May
31, 1878. In order to issue $1s and $2s, the Treasury had to redeem an equal value of higher denomination
legal tender notes that were outstanding, which is what they did.
Members of Congress were acutely aware of the shortage of $1 and $2 notes. In a lengthy floor
discussion on October 2, 1917, they discussed new legislation designed to increase the circulation of $1
and $2 notes through the issuance of $1 and $2 national bank notes. Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA)
was a central proponent of new legislation. Congressman J. Hampton Moore of Pennsylvania (R-PA),
evidently concerned with whether the banks or the taxpayers would bear the cost of printing the new notes,
opined ?I know there is an urgent demand for more $1 and $2 notes, of which there has been a great scarcity
in recent times, probably due to war necessities and war business.? Glass assured him the cost of the notes
would be borne by the banks consistent with how higher denominations were handled (Congressional
Record, October 2, 1917, pp. 7769-70).
Congress passed an act on October 5, 1917 that permitted national banks to issue up to $25,000 in
$1 and $2 national bank notes. The act also repealed the provision in the Act of March 14, 1900 that limited
the issuance of $5s to a third of the circulation of a given bank. The intent of the latter was to increase the
use of $5s relative to higher denomination nationals. Series of 1917 $1 and $2 national bank notes reached
the design stage, but went no further, most likely because Treasury officials realized that the issuance of $1
and $2 legal tender notes would satisfy the demand.
Congress passed an act on December 24, 1919 making gold certificates that were ?payable to the
bearer on demand? legal tender. The motivation behind the legislation appears to have been an expedient
to free up high denomination legal tender notes. By making gold certificates legal tender, national bankers
would be willing to substitute them for large denomination legal tender notes that they held in their legally
mandated reserves. Treasury could then redeem the large denomination legal tenders and issue $1s and $2s
in their stead.
Technically, the 1919 act was redundant because, gold certificates already were classified as lawful
money under the terms the terms of Section 12 of the Act of July 12, 1882. However, the 1919 act
unambiguously clarified that gold certificates were lawful money because they were formally awarded legal
tender status.
The result was that when the contraction of silver certificates came with passage of the Pittman Act
Figure 6. Model for the
$1 national bank notes
authorized by the Act of
October 5, 1917. Note
the similarity of the
back to $1 FRBN, a
uniform back design for
bank currency. National
Numismatic Collection
photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
335
in 1918, which primarily hit the $1 and $2 denominations, the Treasury was poised to fill the gap with legal
tender and Federal Reserve bank notes. The effort to do this is nicely illustrated by the production data for
the $1 notes summarized on Figure 7. Notice that the total volume of $1s printed continued to climb through
the period shown.
Standardization of
Designs
A new wrinkle
overtook events as the
mint began coining new
silver dollars after the
great Pittman melts.
Treasury management
embarked on a program
to modernize all U. S.
currency up through the
$100s. This occurred
just as the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing
was struggling to plug
the gap in demand for
small denomination
notes caused by the
withdrawal of the silver
certificates from
circulation and next
resume production of
them as bags of new
silver dollars began to
flow back into the
Treasury?s vaults.
Secretary of
the Treasury Carter Glass had launched an initiative during the fiscal year ending 1919 to standardize the
appearance of the nation?s currency up through the $100 denominations. He claimed that ?one of the
greatest dangers to the Treasury and to the public in connection with the question of counterfeiting has been
the multiplicity of designs of our various forms of currency (Glass, 1920, p. 101). As this movement gained
momentum in the Treasury Department, the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury D. F. Houston upon
taking office in February of 1920 appointed a committee consisting of the Commissioner of the Public
Debt, Chief of the Secret Service and Chief of the Engraving Division of the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing to thoroughly examine every aspect of standardizing designs (Houston, 1921, p. 239).
Andrew Mellon was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by newly elected President Warren
Harding in 1921 and he continued to pursue the standardization program. By the close of the fiscal year
ending 1923, the concept had grown to embody the following objectives (Mellon, 1924, p. 89). (1) The size
of the currency would not be changed. (2) Uniform backs should be adopted regardless of class. (3) Faces
should have a uniform appearance regardless of class with the primary difference being details to indicate
the class. (4) Symbolic and pictorial embellishments should be eliminated from the faces except for
portraits, where specific portraits should be assigned to each denomination and the same portraits used
across all the classes. (5) The arrangement of design features, particularly denomination features, should
minimize the possibility of note raising.
More detail was provided in a Treasury position paper published September 10, 1923 (Mellon,
1924, p. 375-376). The backs would consist of a scroll work panel with lathe work boarder, without pictures.
The portraits assigned to the faces would be $1-Washington, $5-Lincoln, $10-Jackson, $20-Cleveland, $50-
Figure 7. Production by fiscal year of $1 notes in the different classes at the BEP
illustrating how the Treasury compensated for the loss of silver certificates during
the Pittman silver melts by substituting legal tender and Federal Reserve bank
notes. Notice that the demand for $1s increased during this period.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Grant, $100-Franklin. The seals and serial numbers on the silver certificates and legal tender notes, and the
seals, serial numbers, district letters and name of Federal Reserve Bank, are to be overprinted in color on
the faces as follows: silver certificates-blue, legal tender notes-green, Federal Reserve notes-red. No
consideration was given to $2s because discontinuance of $2s was being contemplated.
Work moved forward rapidly on the $1 sliver certificates and legal tender notes resulting in the
Series of 1923 notes. Mellon reported in his 1924 annual report (Mellon, 1925, p. 40-41):
Silver certificates of the $1 denomination embodying the new features were first paid into circulation
on December 1, 1923 and to June 30, 1924, 128,892,000 notes had been issued. The first delivery of United
States notes of the new design in the denomination of $1 was made by the bureau on January 3 of this year,
and to June 30 1924, 36,068,000 of these notes had been paid into circulation. In accordance with the
principles of design adopted, the backs of these two issues of the same denotation are uniform, and the
faces are uniform, except as to certain characteristics, which differentiate the silver certificates from the
United States notes.
Initial delivery of silver certificates of the $5 denomination [Series of 1923 Lincoln Porthole notes]
was made on August 7, 1924, and the printing of United States notes of the $10 denomination [Series of
1923 Jackson notes] has commenced.
Since the last report and the account therein given of the new designs, a design for the $2
denomination has been approved.
The redesign program stalled thereafter because the Mellon Treasury decided to move forward on
reducing the size of currency. Of course, the principals embodied in giving uniformity to the nation?s
currency were carried forward to the small size.
However, the new $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates that began to appear in December 1923 as
well as the new Series of 1923 legal tender notes that showed up in January 1924 fleshed out the production
curves on Figure 7.
The Net Result
The most voluminous large size type note, the $1 Series of 1899, was phased out before the
circulation of $1 silver certificates recovered from the Pittman melt. The last of them, X32692000A, was
delivered to the Treasury from the BEP on January 26, 1925. By then $1 Series of 1923 silver certificates
had been arriving since November 19, 1923.
Even before the Pittman melts, a chronic shortage of $1s compelled Treasury Secretary McAdoo
Figure 8. Uniform $1
Treasury currency
designs were adopted
and deployed for the $1
SC and LT notes during
the tenure of Secretary
of the Treasury Mellon.
Heritage Auction
Archives photos.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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to resume issuing $1 legal tender notes beginning with Series of 1917s, which became available from the
BEP on July 1, 1918. They were the first $1 legal tender notes printed since 1896.
Production of the new Series of 1923 LT
occurred simultaneously with the 1917s. The first $1
Series of 1923 LTs arrived January 3, 1924. However,
the BEP had a large inventory of unused 1917 plates so
in April, William S. Broughton, Commissioner of the
Public Debt, requested Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury C. S. Dewey to authorize BEP Director Alvin
Hall to continue to use all completed Series 1917 LT $1
plates as well as to finish and use any that weren?t
finished (Broughton, Apr 24, 1924). The Series of 1917
plates continued to be consumed through 1924 and
1925. The last of the Series of 1923 $1 LTs was
delivered from the BEP on October 24, 1925 ending
with serial A81872000B.
The last of the 1917 LT $1s arrived on
December 22, 1925 ending at serial T66368000A.
Ironically, however, the last delivery of $1 Series of
1923 legal tenders occurred two months earlier!
Once the Treasury?s silver stockpiles were
restored with newly minted silver dollars, the need for
$1 and $2 legal tender notes ceased and they stopped
being made.
The Series of 1918 Federal Reserve bank notes
called for in the Pittman Act went a long way toward
supplying low denomination notes during the Pittman
melt. Production of the last of them ceased before the
close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922.
There was irony in the shortage of $1 notes after
the mint had coined the new silver dollars called for in
the Pittman Act. This was that the Treasury was
scrambling to print silver certificates backed by those dollars because the public much preferred the paper
to the bulky coins. Dealing with the paper money simply added to the expenses of the Treasury while the
Treasury was simultaneously burdened with storing the silver dollars. What the Treasury would have
preferred was that the public use the silver dollars. The following documents a futile attempt to change
public usage patterns (Mellon, 1925, p. 41-43).
Efforts have been made from time to time to restore this coin to its former place in the currency
structure. Federal reserve banks have sought the assistance of their member banks in an effort to keep the
silver dollars in active circulation. Owing to the fact, however that the cost of shipping silver dollars falls
on the member banks while the cost of shipping paper currency is absorbed by the Federal reserve banks,
this effort has proved unsuccessful. Furthermore, there was no real demand for silver dollars, since the
public had become accustomed to using paper dollars and gave no consideration to the fact that the
excessive use of paper money of this denomination was adding an appreciable sum to the expenses of the
Government.
The Treasury is now endeavoring to acquaint the public with the desirability of accepting silver
dollars as an auxiliary to paper money. Plans have been formulated to increase their circulation to the extent
of $40,000,000, and the various departments of the Government have been requested to cooperate in this
movement by using silver in making salary payments to Government employees throughout the United
States. Field officers of the various departments have agreed in making salary payments to use silver dollars
for all odd amounts in sums under $5. * * *
During the last three years an unprecedented demand has developed for paper currency of the smaller
Figure 9. Charles S. Dewey was appointed
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury by Andrew
Mellon in 1924. One of his responsibilities was to
ensure that there would be an adequate supply of
$1 notes. In 1925, Dewey chaired the Currency
Committee as it pursued the standardized of
currency designs, ink colors, and whether
national bank notes should be redesigned. This
work fizzled as attention was redirected to
reducing the size of the currency. Library of
Congress photo.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
338
denominations. This is particularly true of $1 notes, which are being used in increasingly large numbers.
In order to supply the demand and meet redemptions of unfit and mutilated dollar bills, it is necessary to
print and put into circulation 48,000,000 of these bills each month. * * *
There are many reasons why the silver dollar should be restored to its former importance in the
currency structure. In the first place, the life of a silver dollar is indefinite, whereas that of a paper dollar
does not at most exceed 11 months. A paper dollar costs 1.7 cents to manufacture and keep in circulation.
If the Treasury, therefore, can restore to circulation 30,000,000 silver dollars in continental United States
and 10,000,000 in our insular possessions, it can displace equal amounts of paper currency and effect an
annual saving of $828,000 on this item alone. * * *
Suggestions have been received from various sources as to the advantages of issuing a metallic
?token? coin in place of the silver certificate or the standard silver dollar itself, the token to be smaller in
size and so different in design that it could not be mistaken for any of the subsidiary coins. Proper reserves
could be set up against this circulation and we would in effect have a metallic dollar certificate instead of
a paper dollar certificate. The thought behind this idea is perfectly sound and if economy of manufacture
were the only consideration the project might be put into effect. The ease of manufacture, however, raises
an obstacle, for unless the alloy should contain an amount of precious metal approaching the face value of
the coin, counterfeiting would be extremely easy.
A point not developed in the discussion of the standardization of currency designs was that of
assigning specific denominations to specific classes of currency. This idea was front and center during this
same period and actually guided policy into the small note era. In 1925, an internal Treasury memorandum
stated ?As you will no doubt recall, the Currency Committee has adopted the policy of eliminating as far
as possible, duplication of kinds in the smaller denominations, by placing our future issue of $1 notes in
silver certificates, $2 notes to be divided between U.S. Notes and silver certificates, $5 U.S. Notes, and $10
in U.S. Notes and gold certificates. This will eliminate $1 U.S. Notes and $5 silver certificates, and is to
become effective as the plates for these kinds are worn out? (Dewey, Feb 21, 1925). A primary motivation
for adopting this policy was to ease the burden of sorting the different classes of notes as they came in for
redemption.
References Cited and Sources of Data
Broughton, William S., Apr 24, 1924, Memorandum from the commissioner of the Public Debt to Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury C. S. Dewey requesting him to authorize BEP Director Alvin Hall to continue to print Series of 1917 LT notes:
Bureau of the Public Debt, Series K Currency, Record Group 53, box 11, file ?Currency Designs.? U.S. National
Archives, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1928, Final receipts for notes and certificates: vols NC01-NC09 split between the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Record Group 318, entry P1, ledgers 268
and 269, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1899-1929, Annual reports of the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: U. S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Congressional Record, October 2, 1917, House of Representatives floor debate on H.R. 6180 Issue of Notes of Small
Denominations: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, p. 7669-7670.
Damodaran, Harish, Aug 11, 2014, The original big bulls of bullion: The Hindu Business Line.
Dewey, Charles S., Feb 21, 1925, Memorandum from Treasury Assistant Secretary Charles S. Dewey to BEP Director Alvin Hall,
regarding Currency Board policies, production of Series 1923 notes, elimination of duplicative currency types and
denominations, and status of incomplete plates. Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, box 11, file ?Currency
Designs,? U.S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Glad, Betty, 1986, Key Pittman, the tragedy of a Senate insider: Columbia University Press, 388 p.
Glass, Carter, 1920, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1919: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1196 p.
Houston, D. F., 1921, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1920: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1604 p.
Israel, Fred L, 1963, Nevada?s Key Pittman: University of Nebraska Press, 210 p.
McAdoo, William G., 1917, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1916: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 574 p.
McAdoo, William G., 1918, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1917: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 797 p.
Mellon, Andrew W., 1924, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1923: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 897 p.
Mellon, Andrew W., 1925, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1924: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 874 p.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Mellon, Andrew W., 1928, Annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1928: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1053 p.
New York Times, Aug 28, 1918, New Greenbacks Out, p. 6.
U. S. Statues, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
In Memoriam--Dr. Harold Don Allen
Dr. Harold Don Allen (July 2, 1931 ? July 11, 2020) who taught generations of math students and future teachers,
instilled a sense of wonder in bright young people about the beauty of numbers and cryptograms and brought a
story-teller?s passion to numismatic history and collecting, from banknotes to milk tokens, passed away quietly in
Brossard, Quebec, family at his side.
Don Allen was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, He earned his BSc in Mathematics and Physics with
Distinction in 1952 from McGill University and Masters degrees from the University of Santa Clara in 1966 and
Rutgers University in 1968. His doctorate in mathematics education, a source of enormous pride for him
throughout his life, was conferred on him by Rutgers in 1977.
Allen acquired an early numismatic fascination with world paper money, began writing published articles in the
late 1950s and was an active member of numismatic society in Canada, the US and abroad for more than 70 years.
He was well ahead of his time in talking about new collecting areas such as Canadian milk tokens, rationing and
other ?Cinderella? means of exchange, including his widely-cited 2006 article in The Numismatist about the origins
of Canadian Tire scrip ?money?.
He was a Lifetime or Honorary member of the, American Numismatic Association, Royal Canadian
Numismatic Association, Canadian Banknote Society, International Banknote Society and Society of
Paper Money Collectors, a fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, a past president of the Montreal Coin
Club and a member of many other clubs worldwide. Allen was a prolific writer of hundreds of articles for
the world?s leading numismatic journals and newspapers, including The Numismatist, Coin World, the
Canadian Numismatic Journal, the International Banknote Society Journal and the Farebox.
Additionally, he was an innovator in bringing the hobby to a wider audience though the use of television
and radio. He and the Truro Coin Club (today known as the Central Nova Scotia Coin Club) had a
regular TV program on Eastern Cablevision that was broadcast throughout central Nova Scotia. This
initiative was recognised by the ANA in the 1970 National Coin Week competition, and reported by the
New York Times, with Allen?s entry being the only award granted that year outside the United States.
In 2001, Allen wrote the authorised biography of a renowned Canadian numismatist, Jim Charlton. J.E.
Charlton: Coinman to Canadians was prepared from personal correspondence and conversations between
the author and "Mr. Coin".
Never having learned to drive a car, Allen travelled by bus and train, visiting his children as they moved
away from home, across Canada and to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He proudly claimed to have
visited all 48 contiguous American states plus Hawaii, attending, speaking, exhibiting and judging at
ANA and other numismatic and educational conventions and gatherings.
Don and Frances Allen were married for nearly 63 years. Fran passed on in April, 2018.
Dr. Allen was laid to rest in his crimson doctoral robes at a private ceremony at Mount Royal Cemetery
at the Allen family monument. He is survived by his four children Nigel, Laura (Ashton), Elizabeth
(Seamone) and Rosalie (Jarvis) and their families. Friends and associates are invited to view his memorial
site here and leave messages or numismatic memories or photos for the family.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Lyn Knight Currency Auct ions
If you are buying notes...
You?ll find a spectacular selection of rare and unusual currency offered for
sale in each and every auction presented by Lyn Knight Currency
Auctions. Our auctions are conducted throughout the year on a quarterly
basis and each auction is supported by a beautiful ?grand format? catalog,
featuring lavish descriptions and high quality photography of the lots.
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Currency... United States Large and Small Size Currency... National Bank
Notes... Error Notes... Military Payment Certificates (MPC)... as well as
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We strongly recommend that you send your material via USPS Registered Mail insured for its
full value. Prior to mailing material, please make a complete listing, including photocopies of
the note(s), for your records. We will acknowledge receipt of your material upon its arrival.
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Whether you?re buying or selling, visit our website: www.lynknight.com
Fr. 379a $1,000 1890 T.N.
Grand Watermelon
Sold for
$1,092,500
Fr. 183c $500 1863 L.T.
Sold for
$621,000
Fr. 328 $50 1880 S.C.
Sold for
$287,500 Lyn Knight
Currency Auctions
Deal with the
Leading Auction
Company in United
States Currency
The Farmers and Merchants National Bank
of Cambridge, Md., Charter 5880
by J. Fred Maples
This bank was organized May 22, 1901, with
William F. Applegarth elected president, and James M.
Robertson, cashier. The bank received its charter on
June 26, 1901, and opened its doors on July 1. This bank
was largely successful and issued $872,400 in 1882
Series, 1902 Series, and 1929 Series notes ? all $50s and
$100s -- with a $15,000 circulation increasing nicely to
$60,000 by 1903. This bank had a conservator in the
1933 banking crisis, but reopened in 1934, and
continued through the end of the national currency
period in 1935. Applegarth was followed as president
by Milford Nathan from 1921 through the end, and
Robertson was followed by L. Thurman Phillips from
1917 through the end.
Applegarth, born in 1842, and son of a sheriff, was
a bank founder, farmer, dry goods merchant, state
assemblyman and senator, county political leader, and
school teacher and principal. For most of his life
Applegarth was wealthy and successful, but reportedly
later in life ?investments and enterprises turned out
badly?, and he died penniless in 1920. Nathan, born in
1876, and an enterprising furniture dealer like his father,
was also a theatre owner, philanthropist, and civic leader
who was ?vitally interested in the affairs of Cambridge.?
Nathan was very much a people person, and it was said
his ?understanding of and liking for people may have
(had) much to do with his success in merchandising.?
The best note from this bank today is this $100
1882 Date Back, Friedberg # 571, certified by PMG
Very Fine 30. This important note combines rarity and
grade, with eye appeal, pen signatures, and an
interesting scissor cut. According to the National Bank
Note Census, this note is one of just two known $100
1882 Date Backs from Maryland. Recently this note
was a highlight of Marc Watts? Maryland collection
before selling for a bargain price of $14,400 in
Heritage?s 2018 FUN sale, lot 20896. Previously this
note sold in a 2006 ebay.com auction for $21,450 ? an
impressive sum for that venue. This note was pen
signed by James M. Robertson, cashier, and W. Lake
Robinson, vice president.
Robertson was successful in many ways.
Robertson?s obituary in the Cambridge Daily Banner of
June 3, 1931 reads: ?James McCrea Robertson, first
cashier of the Farmers & Merchants Bank and former
county treasurer, died this afternoon at 2:30 o?clock at
the Cambridge-Maryland Hospital. Death was due to
$100 1882 Date Back. The Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Cambridge, Md. Charter # 5880. This
bank issued 560 sheets of $50 and $100 1882 Date Backs between 1909 and 1911, with two notes per sheet.
Afterward this bank issued another 1,046 sheets of $50 and $100s 1882 Date Backs, with four notes per sheet.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
341
the infirmities of old age. Until 17 years of age Mr.
Robertson lived on a farm, after which he learned
carpentry and on locating in Vienna, 1866, he engaged
in contracting and building. While attending school in
his native district he studied surveying under the
direction of his teacher, James Benton Armstrong, of
Pennsylvania, with whom he formed a firm partnership.
Mr. Robertson was prominent in Democratic politics.
While residing in Vienna, 1870, he was appointed
justice of peace, which office he held for four
consecutive years. In 1877 he was nominated and
elected county surveyor, which office he held for six
years. In 1885 he was elected to the Maryland House of
Delegates; and following this term he resumed
contracting in Vienna. He was appointed school
commissioner in 1892 and continued until 1894 when
he was made treasurer of Dorchester County. Following
this term of office he was appointed assistant
superintendent of schools of Dorchester County and
remained in that position until the organization of the
Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1901, when he became
their first cashier. He continued in banking circles until
about a year ago when failing health forced him to give
up his active duties.? Again Robertson was followed as
cashier by L. Thurman Phillips. Phillips, son of a boat
captain, was a career bookkeeper, local welfare and
hospital board member, noted mason, and church leader,
who moved with his family to Cambridge in 1896.
Per Robinson?s obituary in the Baltimore Sun of
September 14, 1915: ?Mr. (W. Lake) Robinson was
born near Cambridge 54 years ago, and was a son of the
late Joseph and Mary Bowdle Robinson. In early
manhood he engaged in business with the late Daniel E.
Dail, the firm being known as Robinson, Dail & Co. He
subsequently engaged in farming and speculation in real
estate, in both of which he was successful. He was
engaged in many other enterprises, being a partner of
Lewin S. Dail in the wood and coal business; of G.
Walter Wright, in fire insurance; a director of the
Cambridge Creamery Company and first vice-president
of the Farmers and Merchants? National Bank of
Cambridge. Mr. Robinson took an active part in politics
and filled several positions?Tax Collector of
Cambridge district, Sheriff and County Clerk for the last
six years. He became chairman of the Democratic State
Central Committee in 1907, upon the retirement of State
Senator William F. Applegarth, and retained the
position until his death.?
The layouts of $100 1882 Date Backs ?including
this note -- are stunning in every way. Top left this note
is highlighted by the distinctive Roman numeral C,
followed by the decimal 100. Below the left decimal
100 is the beautiful vignette named "Commodore
Perry's Victory on Lake Champlain", which depicts
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry leaving his flagship,
the Lawrence, during the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.
Top center includes the declaration ?National Currency.
This Note Is Secured by Bonds of the United States, Or
Other Securities?, which defines the note?s backing. In
the middle is the bank?s official name ?The Farmers and
Merchants National Bank of Cambridge?. Immediately
right of ?The? in the bank?s name is its charter number,
overprinted in blue ink. Just below the right decimal
100 is this note's treasury serial number, A150862,
which was unique across all banks. And finally the right
vignette is an angelic depiction of Liberty, seated by a
bundle of rods representing the union of states, along
with the message ?Maintain It!? burst in sunlight.
The 1882 Date Back national currency series was
created by the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of May 30, 1908,
as signed by Theodore Roosevelt, to mitigate the
worldwide financial Panic of 1907. Senator Nelson W.
Aldrich, a Republican from Rhode Island, was largely
responsible for the bill, along with his co-sponsor Rep.
Edward Vreeland of New York. The bill provided a
mechanism for banks to use securities other than U.S.
government bonds to obtain short-term increases in their
national bank note circulations. Two types of entities
could apply for the additional currency: 1) individual
banks, like this one, and, 2) groups of at least 10 banks
formed into national currency associations. Individual
banks applied directly to the Comptroller of the
Currency for additional notes to be secured by state or
local government bonds, and could receive notes up to
90% of the bonds? market value. The associations were
allowed to accept securities from a member bank, and
then apply to the Comptroller for additional circulation
for that member. Again if the deposited assets were
acceptable state or local bonds, the association could
apply for national bank notes up to 90% of the bonds?
value, but were limited to 75% of the cash value of
certain securities or short-term commercial paper.
Cambridge is a historic city on Maryland?s Eastern
Shore ? east of the Chesapeake Bay -- and the county
seat of Dorchester County. Cambridge was settled by
English colonists in 1684, who developed farming on
the Eastern Shore, with the largest plantations devoted
first to tobacco, and later to mixed farming. Tobacco
farming was very labor intensive, and required many
enslaved Africans, but mixed farming required less
labor. The town was a successful trading center, and
was named Cambridge in 1686 for the English
university town. Cambridge developed a food
processing industry in the late 19th century, and canned
oysters, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. The industry won
contracts with the Department of Defense during the
First and Second World Wars, and employed up to
10,000 people at its peak. Later Cambridge became a
popular tourist destination for its abundant historical
sites and water sports.
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James J. Ott, Nevada Assay Office
by Robert Gill
Although I am primarily interested in
Obsolete Currency sheets, and write about them
in my regular Paper Money column, "The
Obsolete Corner", I do occasionally delve into
other areas of paper. At some time in the past, I
acquired a very interesting sheet of gold dust
receipts. And as I started researching them, I
found that they have a very interesting history.
So now, let's look at the life of a pioneer of the
gold rush that California experienced early in its
statehood. And that pioneer was James J. Ott.
James J. Ott came from Switzerland
with his brother. He had attended a
prestigious Swiss University there, receiving a
degree in metallurgy and chemistry. After first
going to Wisconsin, where his brother
remained, he moved on to California Territory.
After arrival in 1850, he started taking part in
the sensational gold rush that had just
commenced in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
He settled down in one of the many mining
camps, where he opened a general store,
selling mining equipment and supplies. At the
same time, he smelted gold dust and nuggets
into bars for the miners.
Ott removed himself from Sierra County
and settled in Nevada City in 1853 (although at
this time the town was still known as Nevada),
where he opened an assay office. By then,
miners were faced with formidable problems of
extracting gold from the hard-surrounding
matrix.
Over twenty percent of the mined ore was
being discarded into the tailing, although the
residue was rich in gold and silver. It was Ott
who came to the rescue. In 1853, he discovered
a method of extracting the precious metals
through the waste in a chlorinating process. He,
subsequently, built the first ?reverberatory?
furnace next to a quartz mine in Grass Valley.
His plant recovered eighty-eight percent of the
sulphurous that had previously been thrown
away. Ott managed to retrieve as much as $400
of gold and silver per ton from the waste. Hard
rock mining was instantly removed from the
experimental stage, and became an industry-
wide practice.
Ott?s Nevada City laboratory and assay
office stood in the rear of Number 30 Main
Street, in the center of the business district.
Later, after purchasing the entire structure, he
moved from the rear of the building to the front.
A gold-leaf sign appeared above the doorway,
reading ?J.J. OTT, NEVADA ASSAY
OFFICE?.
It wasn?t much later that, because of the
confusion in the names Nevada Territory and
Nevada, California, that ?City? was added to the
town name.
Ott?s reputation soared to new heights after
he appraised some black-looking rock that
several of his friends had brought in from what
is now Virginia City, Nevada. Prospectors
expected only to uncover ledges of glittering
gold from snow-white quartz deposits. They
mostly only found ledges and veins of the black-
looking substance, which they cursed and threw
away. Then, one day, when the friends of Ott
brought in several of these specimens, they were
thrilled that the samples assayed out at $3166 in
silver and $1595 in gold per ton of ore. This
discovery by him, in 1859, aroused the world!
As the steady flow of ore samples ran through
his office, it required only his word for prospects
to be worked or abandoned.
Ott, with typical energy in the promotion of
mining, seemed unbeatable. He became the
principal owner in several lode mines. With all
these holdings, he was still carrying on his work
at the assay office.
Ott?s son, Emil, eventually took over the
business before James, living a very productive
and rewarding life into his late years, died on
March 25th, 1907.
So there it is. Just another glimpse into our
nation's history, and what made it great.
As I always do, I invite any comments to my
personal email address robertgill@cableone.net
or my cell phone number (580) 221-0898.
So until next time, HAPPY COLLECTING.
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Commodore Jacob Jones? Gallant Fight
by Terry A. Bryan
The 1812 War with Great Britain was not
going well for the United States. The Canadian
frontier was the scene of defeats on land in poorly
planned American campaigns against tough
professional soldiers. The British Navy was
blockading our coasts and our commerce was halting.
Even though the American theater was a lesser priority
in the larger war, the British had all the advantages.
The British reputation for utter naval
dominance was shaken by the bitter ship engagement
on October 18, 1812 wherein an American warship
completely demolished a larger British opponent. The
disheartened American public was uplifted by the
news. The British military establishment was
chastened. The War of 1812 went on for two more
years, but this one short battle stiffened the resolve of
the underdogs. The United States Navy achieved new
respect internationally.
The Wasp under Master Commandant Jacob
Jones (1768-1850), was a Ship-Sloop of War. This
class of ship had a single gun deck and three masts.
She carried 18 guns, two long-
range and sixteen guns for
close broadsides. Under
wartime conditions Jones
sailed out of the Delaware
Bay in search of British
ships. Jones was familiar
with the waters. He grew
up in Delaware and
served in fleets based in
Philadelphia. The sheltered
fleet anchorage was off the little
port town of Lewes,
Delaware where Jones
had spent several years as
a child.
Jones? father was a physician and farmer in the
settlement of Duck Creek, now Smyrna, Delaware. By
the time he was six he was in the care of his step-
mother. Her family was in Lewes, and it is thought
that young Jones witnessed Revolutionary War fleets
and knew sailors from the anchored warships. It is
possible that this early contact influenced the direction
of his life. His education took a different course when
he became a physician in the family tradition.
Jones married Anna Sykes, the daughter of a
prominent family, and she died while Jones was Clerk
of the Supreme Court of Delaware. [Anna?s father,
James Sykes (II), signed Delaware Colonial Notes. He
was a patriot, taking over the signing after a Tory
absconded with the financial records. Anna?s brother,
Dr. James Sykes, became Governor of Delaware.]
Jacob Jones joined the Navy in 1799 as an unusually
old midshipman. Whether in grief or dissatisfied with
medicine, or from childhood memory, the decision is
unexplained.
Only two years passed until Jones was a 2nd
Lieutenant. Naval war with Tripoli resulted in two
years? imprisonment with William Bainbridge and
James Biddle after being captured from the frigate
Philadelphia. He served for five years in various posts
until promotion to Master Commandant and
assignment to the Wasp just as Madison was declaring
war on Britain. His maturity and education clearly
helped his advance in the Navy. Wasp?s first war
cruise started in October, 1812. About a week out of
port he captured a small British warship. His next
encounter off the Delaware Bay was with a Caribbean
convoy headed for Canada. Storms had damaged and
separated the convoy, but the escort was catching up.
Jones and the Wasp challenged the slightly larger
Frolic, a Brig-Sloop of War, the most common British
warship type.
Naval ranks and ship designations are
confusing. Lieutenants could command smaller
warships, and they were ?Captain? in that capacity.
Master Commandant was a rank that implied
suitability for advancement. Commodore was an
honorific, not an official rank. Sloop of War usually
described a single gun deck warship, smaller than a
frigate. Categories were based on number of guns,
rather than displacement or rigging. While a civilian
sloop has one mast with fore-and-aft rigging, a Sloop
of War had two (Brig-Sloop) or three masts (Ship-
Sloop) usually square-rigged. The Americans favored
three masts, more stable, maneuverable, but needing
more sailors aboard. The British mostly built faster,
slimmer two-mast ships, because they were always in
need of crew; their Navy was huge. Sorting out the
action in the many paintings of this battle depends on
the knowledge that the American ship had three masts
and the British had two.
The battle between the Wasp and the Frolic
was described in detail by both Captains; the court
martial testimony is available on Google Books
Thomas Sully was
commissioned to paint Jones?
portrait for the Delaware
Legislature in 1814.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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website. There was not a great deal of time spent in
pursuit and maneuver. As the Wasp came up close, the
Frolic displayed Spanish flags, a common strategy.
The Frolic raised the British colors as it fired. Jones?
aimed more for deck-level damage and the Frolic tried
to disable upper rigging. Both ships were severely
damaged in the close-up action, but the British ship
lost maneuverability. Jones? took a position that
allowed bearing his guns effectively, and the wrecked
Frolic drifted into Wasp and the ships became
entangled. The bowsprit of the Frolic crossed over the
deck of the Wasp right above Jones? head. Excited
Americans began boarding by running down the
crossed spars, and Jones had to stop firing. Both decks
were littered with bodies, blood and broken masts.
The Frolic did not capitulate by lowering its flag,
because there was nobody left to do so. Wasp crew
were unopposed on the British deck. Three or four
men, all injured were still in place, including the
British Captain and a Lieutenant. Casualties were 63
British versus 16 Americans, with almost 50%
casualties from the Frolic, including every British
officer. An American ship had soundly defeated a
stronger enemy from the largest navy in the world.
[Syngraphic trivia: The leader of the boarding
party was Lt. James Biddle. He had a distinguished
naval career. His brother, Nicholas Biddle was the
President of the (2nd) Bank of the United States. The
feud with President Jackson defined an era of
economic chaos in the country, which influenced
banks, currency and scrip. Thomas Macdonough,
naval hero at the end of the War of 1812, had captained
the Wasp during peacetime, and he also had Obsolete
Currency connections. Numismatists learn a lot of
history and see cross-connections among the famous
and influential in the developing country.]
Within two hours Jones? crew was frantically
clearing wreckage to separate the two ships when the
large escort frigate from the convoy approached. The
Wasp could not turn guns toward the enemy, and Jones
was in the process of aiming Frolic cannon when he
realized the futility of continuing to fight. Jones?
possession of the enemy lasted only two hours. His
gracious behavior toward the British resulted in his
crew being treated civilly. Jones, Biddle and the other
officers were held in Bermuda and exchanged with
honor. Later the British evaluation of the action
concluded that both ships fought to virtual wrecks, and
that ?no men in any navy ever showed more courage
(Frolic)?, and that ?coolness and skill of the
Americans, and the great superiority of judgment and
accuracy? gave them the battle.
Jones? victory heartened the public in a war
that was going poorly. Even the British were
impressed. Anti-war sentiment in England was strong,
and word of the battle spread among that faction.
British naval histories detailed the battle, and
illustrations were published there. The United States
Navy gained in stature. The British porcelain industry
produced tableware depicting Wasp and Frolic.
Philadelphia artist Thomas Birch (1779-1851) painted
several versions of the battle scene, reproduced
widely. The episode stimulated the popular
imagination for many years. In the 1970s American
Heritage periodical sponsored a Bicentennial Jigsaw
Puzzle of the battle.
After the early death of Anna, Jones married
twice more. Three of his five children lived to
adulthood. His naval career extended until his death
Thomas Birch painted a number of versions of the battle
scene, with variable accuracy.
The British pottery industry
capitalized on the heroic
battle; products were not
limited to British victories This Birch painting shows Jones? crew boarding the Frolic
over the entangled spars.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
347
in 1850. He held important posts at sea and on land,
and he obtained professional and monetary honors as
a result of his 1812 victory. Three Navy ships and an
island have been named for him.
Along with cash, Jones was awarded a
Congressional Gold Medal produced by the Mint.
Artwork was by Spencer, dies by Moritz Furst; the
1820 medal has a profile of Jones from a portrait by
Rembrandt Peale. Mottoes are ?virtue in difficult
circumstances? and ?seized quick victory against a
larger enemy?. The reverse shows the damaged ships
in close combat.
Wilmington, Delaware is the largest city in the
state. Its history goes back to the Swedish settlement
in 1638. British occupation during the Revolution was
still in memory during the War of 1812. In the Federal
Period, Wilmington was a town incorporated as a
?borough? with a council composed of burgesses.
Rapid growth later permitted a city title. By 1812
there were three banks and many mill operations
feeding the busy Delaware River port.
During the suspension of specie payments
caused by the War, the town issued scrip. William
Kneass of Philadelphia prepared copper plates for 7
denominations. Vignettes included a blacksmith, a
primitive steamboat, a loom, a ram and a beehive.
Dates from late 1814 to August, 1815 are written in or
printed. Clearly the vignettes symbolized local
business, pride, and industriousness. The sheep
represents the woolen textile industry, fueled by E. I.
Du Pont?s import of merino ram, Don Pedro. A
painting of this famous sheep may have been the
inspiration of this vignette. Presumably, few money
vignettes show an animal with a known name. This
improvement in the breed was widely publicized, and
even Thomas Jefferson received wool samples from
the resulting strain of American lambs.
The Wilmington twelve-and-a-half-cent scrip
note displays a vignette of the Wasp and the Frolic
battle. Kneass (1781-1840) was later Chief Engraver
of the Mint after success with his private business.
Some of the tiny images on the Wilmington scrip
appear to be unique usages. Choosing to portray the
event on money speaks of the popular pride in the
naval victory and the Delaware naval hero, Jacob
Jones.
References:
Clayton, John M. Address on the Life, Character and Services of
Com. Jacob Jones.
Wilmington, 1851.
Clowes, William L. The Royal Navy, A History, Volume vi.
Chatham (reprint), 1997.
Jones, William. Naval History of Great Britain. London, 1902.
Julian, R. W. Medals of the United States Mint, The First
Century. TAMS, 1977.
Pratt, Fletcher. A Delaware Squire: Jacob Jones (Preble?s Boys).
William Sloan Assoc, 1950.
www.allthingsliberty.com general history of the War of 1812.
www.history.navy.mil official history.
www.historyofwar.org article by J. Rickard.
www.modelshipworld.com summary of courts-martial of the
captains, audio file of song.
www.warof1812.net general history, battle description.
Delaware Public Archives.
Heritage Auction Archives.
The Congressional Jacob Jones medal was struck by the Mint
with a distinguished profile on the obverse and a depiction of
the Wasp & Frolic joined in fierce battle on the reverse.
Emergency scrip of Wilmington, Delaware was produced in
1814-15, engraved by William Kneass, signed by the town
treasurer and the Chairman of the Burgesses.
Most famous sheep of his era. E I. Du Pont?s Merino ram
Don Pedro?
The Wilmington 12 ? Cent scrip shows a tiny
vignette of the Wasp & Frolic battle.
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SPMC Serivce Awards
Nathan?Gold?Award??for?long?term?exemplary?service?
Don?Mark?
A?staple?in?the?world?of?Iowa?nationals,?and?long?time?servant?to?the?Higgins?Museum?and?its?mission?of?
preservation,?display?and?education?of?national?bank?notes.?Don?has?been?contributing? to? the?hobby?
longer?than?many?of?today?s?hobbyists?have?been?alive,?and?we?gratefully?recognize?him?with?this?award.?
Founders?Award?for?exemplary?contribution?to?the?society?in?the?past?year?
Mark?Drengson?
His?enormous?contribution?in?the?Bank?Note?History?Project?has?earned?Mark?this?award.??When?he?is?not?
working?his?day?job,?Mark?spends?many?of?those?free?hours?in?his?labor?of?love,?and?many?SPMC?members?
have?taken?advantage?of?(and?contributed?to)?the?information?encapsulated?in?this?project,?available?on?
the?SPMC?website.??Watch?out?for?even?more?types?of?data?coming?soon.?
Education,?Research?and?Outreach?Award?for?exemplary?service?in?these?areas.?
Robert Calderman, Matt Draiss, Josh Kelley, Cody Reginnitter, Andy?Timmerman??
Much?has?changed?recently?in?the?hobby?s?space?in?social?media.??Several?SPMC?members?have?taken?up?the?
task?of?creating?groups?on?Facebook?and?building?up?the?SPMC?Instagram?account.?
? Cody &?Andy:?FB?National?Bank?Note?Collectors
? Matt:?SPMC?Instagram
? Josh?Kelley:??FB?Obsolete?Currency?Note
Collectors
? Robert:??FB?Small?Size?Variety Collectors
???U.S.?Paper?Money;?FB?Large?Size?Star?Notes?
&?Variety?Collectors???U.S.?Paper?Money?
Nathan?Goldstein??for?recruitment?of?the?most?new?members?to?the?society?
Robert Calderman?
President?s?Award?for?an?individual,?club?or?group?who?has?done?a?major?service?
to?the?SPMC.??The?criteria?is?developed?by?each?individual?president?and?the?
awardees?are?determined?solely?by?him/her.?
Benny Bolin, Robert Calderman, Phillip Mangrum?
For?their?work?in?crafting?the?beautiful?makeover?of?our?beloved?journal.??Paper?Money?is?an?outstanding?
journal?based?on?its?content?alone,?and?this?redesign?simply?puts?it?over?the?top.???
Forrest?Daniel?Award?for?literary?excellence??
Wendell Wolka?
Wendell?has?authored?books?on?Indiana?and?Ohio?obsoletes,?in?addition?to?numerous?articles?touching?
upon?the?world?of?obsoletes.??This?completes?Wendell?s?sweep?of?SPMC?service?awards.???
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
349
L iterary Awards
U.?S.?Large?Size?
First?Place?(tie)?The?Treasury?Clerk?Goes?to?War?Nicholas?Bruyer?
$100?Counterfeit?FRNs?Bob?Ayers?
Second?Place?1862?1863?Legal?Tend?Classification?Chart?Doug?Murray?w/Peter?Huntoon?
U.?S.?Small?Size?
First?Place?Styles?of?Currency?Collecting?Ed?Zegers?
Second?Place?Series?1929?FRBNs?Released?in?WWII?Lee?Loftus?&?Jamie?Yakes?w/Peter?Huntoon?
National?Bank?Notes?
First?Place?Sand,?Clay?and?National?Banks?Jerry?Dzara?
Second?Place?The?First?National?Bank?in?AZ?Territory?Dawn?Santiago?w/Peter?Huntoon?
Obsolete?Banknotes?
First?Place?N.C.?Civil?War?Treasury?Notes?at?the?Univ.?of?N.C.?Bob?Schreiner?
Second?Place?A?Tale?of?Two?Quaker?Bankers?Nicholas?Bruyer?
Confederate?Notes?
First?Place?Origin?of?the?Train?Vignette?on?T?39?Notes?Michael?McNeil?&?Marvin?Ashmore ?
Also the winner of the Dr. Glenn Jackson Award for best article on Proofs, Specimens or Vignettes?
Second?Place?A?Confederate?Train?Note?Date?Set?Michael?McNeil?
World?Banknotes?
First?Place?WWII?Isle?of?Man?Internment?Camp?Steve?Feller?
Second?Place?Pancho?Villa?s?Bedsheets?Elmer?Powell?
Miscellaneous?U.S.??
First?Place?Rare?Postal?Notes?from?Sitka?Alaska?Kent?Halland?&?Charles?Surasky?
Second?Place?The?Genesis?of?Postal?Currency?Rick?Melamed?
Favorite?Column?
First?Place?Cherry?Pickers?Corner?Robert?Calderman?
Second?Place?Quartermaster?Column?Michael?McNeil?
Wismer?Award?Book?of?the?Year?
Treasury?Notes?of?the?War?of?1812?Donald?Kagin?
Runner?Up?Thian?s?Masterpiece?&?the?Early?Literature?of?Confederate?Paper?Money?David?Fanning?
Runner?Up??A?History?of?Indiana?Obsolete?Notes?and?Scrip?(an?e?book)?Wendell?Wolka?
Obsoletes Database Set Registry Awards
State?Collection?Minnesota?Territory?Bank?Notes?Shawn?Hewitt?
Type?Collection?Northeastern?Fractional?Currency?Mimics?Benny?Bolin?
Issuer?Collection?(tie)?Planters?&?Mechanics?Bank?Mack?Martin?
Eastern?Bank?of?Alabama?Bill?Gunther?
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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SPMC Hall of Fame
2020 Inductees
Len Glazer Allen Mincho
Len Glazer, a co-founder and president of
Currency Auctions of America, is widely
recognized as one of the country's foremost
authorities on paper money. Before graduating
from St. John's University, he became a
recognized dealer of - and authority on -
Fractional Currency. In 1975, Len founded
Fractional Currency Incorporated. In 1990, Len
helped start Currency Auctions of America, Inc.
with Allen Mincho and today, he is recognized
as the country's foremost authority on Fractional
Currency, as well as one of the most respected
figures in the entire paper money community.
After graduating from New York University
Law School in 1971 Allen became a full-time
currency dealer in 1980. He specialized in
National Bank Notes and Large Size Type
notes and has personally handled the lion?s
share of the rarities that have come to market in
the last four decades. In 1990, Mincho co-
founded Currency Auctions of America, with
Len Glazer which quickly became America?s
top currency auction firm. In 2001, CAA joined
Heritage Auctions of Dallas. Mincho was one
of the founding members of the Professional
Currency Dealers Association and is a noted
contributor to many periodicals/publications.
C. John Ferreri D. C. Wismer
David Cassell Wismer pioneered the cataloging
of obsolete notes in The Numismatist as early
as 1907, but he is best known for his article the
"Descriptive List of Obsolete Paper Money"
that ran in The Numismatist from June 1922 to
November 1936. Mr. Wismer passed away on
May 31, 1949, predating the SPMC. He was a
50-year member of the ANA , member #127,
joining in December 1892. In 1969 he was
elected to the ANA Hall of Fame. He was an
engineer and mechanic. The SPMC has a
literary program named for Mr. Wismer.
C. John Ferreri started collecting paper money in
1969 and was attracted to the artistry that was
usually found on it, especially the obsolete issues.
Starting with an interest in Connecticut issues he
soon branched out to the rest of the New England
States, keeping him busy for the next 50 years. He
wrote the foreword for Vol #1 of the Whitman
Obsolete Paper Money series of books and also
became the editor for the volumes housing the
New England States. He is SPMC member # 2570,
joining the Society in 1970 and serving the Society
as treasurer from 1976-1979; Governor from
1979-2001 and as chairman of the awards
committee, the nominating committee and
publicity chair. He received literature awards, from
the SPMC in 1992 and 1996.
These great friends have distinguished themselves personally and/or professionally above and beyond in their service to
our hobby. We thank them for their pioneering contributions, their generosities, and unflagging support.
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U N C O U P L E D :
PAPER MONEY?S
ODD COUPLE
Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan
More Art from Warrington
Last issue I began a multi-part presentation of the new
graphic art being developed by the Warrington faker,
selling from his new name and address, Irvin Santiago in
Leicester (but always shipped from his old Warrington
address, with the name S. Alseyo on the envelopes). We
continue with 26 more of his inventions.
Figure 25 (continuing numbering from last issue) is a
Greek piece decorated with a double-headed eagle.
Unless otherwise specified all of these devices are printed
by inkjet (any that are not did not originate with him).
Figure 26 is the first of a series of Indonesian notes
with a variety of overprints. This one claims to be a coat
of arms for the Communist Party of Indonesia. Figures
27-29 are other arms on Indonesian notes. Remember that
a given overprint may appear on many different note
types. I have seen the overprint of figure 26 on five types
in three series dated from 1957-1968.
See Boling page 354
World War II Checks
I have mentioned several times the difficulty?and
importance?of deciding on the topic for discussion in
preparing a column. There was a new twist this time.
After only a short exchange with Joe, we decided that I
would write about World War II checks.
The new problem is that the check category is far
wider than I thought. This is true in spite of the fact that
checks are barely mentioned in the go-to source?World
War II Remembered (1995). Of course that will be
corrected if we can ever get a second edition, but today I
remained stuck.
Despite the lack of material in Remembered, I have
been interested in and collected World War II checks
since 1995 and even earlier. When we first decided that I
would write about checks, I was thinking about a sort of
survey article, but have found too many interesting things
to write about on the subject. So, I am going to tell you
some interesting things about checks this time and then
about some different checks next time and probably the
time after that.
The first World War II check that really excited me
was in the Neil Shafer collection. When Joe and I were
working on Remembered, I visited Neil for help on the
project. He showed me many things and explained even
more to me. It was a great session.
Quite casually, Neil showed me a check that had been
issued to a German PW for his repatriation in 1946! You
will recall that some 400,000 PWs were held in camps in
the United States during the war. You, but not the general
public, also know that the PWs were paid while being held
prisoner. We all know these facts because they resulted in
chits that were issued in the camps and are now popularly
collected.
The little obscure twist is what happened to money in
camp accounts when the PWs went home. The answer is
that they were issued checks for the balances in their
accounts upon repatriation. Actually they were issued
disbursement orders, but more on that below.
I learned all of this in Neil?s basement ca 1994. Neil
told me the following story when he showed me his check.
Figure 26 left
Figures 27-29
below
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
352
Many years earlier, he had been prospecting for
treasures in a junk/antique shop somewhere, as most of us
have done many times. As you know, Neil is the king.
Anyway, he nosed around without finding anything so he
reluctantly asked the proprietor if he had anything in the
way of paper money, financial documents, and the like.
The fellow responded that there was a case in the far
back under several layers of blankets, rugs, pottery, and
probably rodent droppings where Neil might find
something. Neil found the pile. Less ardent collectors may
(in fact, likely would) have passed and gone elsewhere.
Not Neil.
Eventually his digging got down to the case, but even
then it was not easy. The case was jammed with
nondescript materials. Finally, at the back of the case was
a small brief case. Inside the case was a canvas bag, inside
the bag was a box and inside the box some envelopes.
Neil, dutifully looked in each envelope. The last envelope
was stuffed with papers of no particular interest or
connection to the last item, which was a disbursement
order (check) made out to Maximilian Cerny for $6.40
and stamped ?German PW.? Neil took the check to the
proprietor and tried to casually ask what he wanted for the
item.
The fellow then told Neil the following story.
Maximilian had worked on the family farm during the war
(not an unusual situation) and had become a close family
friend. When Maximilian had been repatriated he had left
the check behind. In the story or my third-generation
recollection of it, that may have been intentional or
otherwise. Nevertheless, the fellow said that he could not
possibly sell it.
Neil said ?How about double face value??
Sold!
I sure learned a lot from Neil that morning about PW
checks and about perseverance?and about negotiating. I
fell in love with the check instantly. Neil would not sell it
to me. In the light of what I learned from Neil that day, I
should have tried harder. Certainly, I would have doubled
him up. Still would.
That check is illustrated in Remembered on page 396.
There is an obscure point regarding that illustration. If you
look closely at it, you can tell that the image was made
from a photocopy. For whatever reason, that was the best
that we could come up with in time for publication. As a
routine matter, I refused to use photocopies because of
this telltale visual difference. There are over 4000 images
in Remembered. There might be a few more images made
from photocopies, but not many. It had to be really
important for me to accept photocopies.
From the moment that I saw that check, I wanted one.
It took many years before I even saw another one, but as
with so many things, the Internet changed everything. I
have two images for our study (not from photocopies).
One is an actual scan of Neil?s Cerny order. The other is
an order that I might have bought in a Fest auction or I
might only have the scan, which I obtained from someone
else. I am sorry that I do not know. Nonetheless, we have
two great items to study.
Remember that the Cerny order found by Neil was
made out for $6.40. The second order is made out to Fritz
Ruch for $164! That was a substantial amount in 1946.
The most important part of the check is the main
legend: Military Disbursing Officers of the Unites States.
Below this bold text is the all-important second line: will
cash this payment order. This text essentially promises to
pay, but the payer will be a military disbursing officer.
If we do not believe or fully understand the
importance of this restriction, it is spelled out in the box
of text at lower left: To secure payment the payee whose
name appears heron must sign in the presence of the
cashing disbursing officer of the army or navy. The box
at the upper left looks
important, but is rather
administrative in nature: the
disbursing officer cashing this
payment order must forward it
to the Treasurer of the United
States of America Washington
25, D.C., for deposit. In
summary, these are not routine
checks.
The restrictions are
hammered home on the backs
with four distinctive boxes of
restrictions: 1) this payment
order is not negotiable, 2) do
not endorse this payment order
to anyone, 3) this payment
order is void if endorsed, 4)
this payment order will be
cashed only by army or navy
disbursing officers. Number 3,
voiding the order if endorsed,
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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seems excessively harsh, but I guess finance wanted to
make a point.
How could a prisoner cash his (there were a few
women) order? If he could not do it at the camp where it
was issued, it would have been very difficult enroute or
even after arriving home. It very well might not have
seemed worth the effort for six dollars, but for $160 1946
dollars? There is an irony here. It seems to me that the
difficulty of redeeming these orders contributed greatly to
the (admittedly limited) availability of the orders for
collectors today. If they had been routine checks we very
well may not have had any to examine or desire.
Both of the orders are rubber stamped with
"GERMAN P.W." although with two very different
stamps. The place of issue is stated on the orders as Fort
Monroe, Virginia and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The
former is stamped, the latter printed on the orders. They
were issued on May 3, 1946 and Jan 18, 1946
respectively. The serial numbers are interesting (they
always are).
The numbers are actually quite close together at
70,817,671 and 71,206,677. At least a 400,000 (389,006
exactly) spread seems close in a total issue of 71 million.
It also seems like a reasonable spread since the total
number of PWs in the United States was approximately
400,000. So, was a block of disbursing orders designated,
separated, or otherwise used specifically for PWs?
Certainly most of the 71 million orders were used for
something other than PW payment, but what?
I do not know. The conditions seem too restrictive to
me to have been used for payment of personnel (military
or other) or for purchase of materials. I need to find some
disbursing orders that were used for other things.
I may be wrong, since I have only been looking for
WWII disbursing orders (non-PW) for a short time, but I
think that they are very scarce. Still, out of roughly 70
million non-PW orders, at least a few should have escaped
redemption (or destruction after redemption).
Why was such a restrictive method of payment
selected by authorities? Sure, it might have been
specifically to save money for the government by
reducing redemptions. While that was certainly a result,
was it the purpose? I do not know, but that is the sort of
question that we might eventually be able to solve.
That is about all that I can tell you about the PW
payment orders, but I can ask some questions. Do any
such orders exist for other than German PWs? Without
doubt others were issued, but do any exist? The most
obvious possibility would be for Italian PWs, but that case
is more complicated than it seems. Certainly behind
Germans, many more Italians were held in the United
States than Japanese. However, the status of most Italian
prisoners was changed after Italy capitulated in 1943 and
became a cobelligerent.
The former PWs were reorganized into Italian Service
Units. It is altogether possible that they were issued such
orders when their status changed, but they had substantial
freedom of movement and would certainly have cashed
the orders. The bottom line is that any order issued to
someone other than a German PW must be considered
rare?if any exist.
I would very much like to receive reports of other
prisoner of war disbursing orders. I will even be happy to
receive photocopies! At the moment I also need reports of
non-PW disbursing orders. Of course I will also be happy
to receive questions or comments on the
subject: fredschwan@yahoo.com.
Boling continued
Figures 30-32 change continents, to Iran. Thus far we
have been spared any of the Persian overprints on German
notes from this seller. Figure 32 is described as a 5th
anniversary commemorative, presumably of the Islamic
Revolution. Either he erred in listing it or I erred in
recording it, because the note was issued 26 years after
that event.
Figures 33-36 are propaganda messages printed on
the backs of homeland Japanese notes. These are all
fantasies. The message of figure 33 copies one of the four
messages that the US used on replica currency leaflets.
The images on the other three are unfamiliar to me, and
appear to be copies of non-currency leaflets. But we never
printed the messages on top of the original note design.
Camp Atterbury, Indiana
scene drawn by a POW.
Fig.30?left.
Fig 31?above
Fig. 32 left
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
354
Allied leaflets always placed the message on a clean piece
of paper, with a note image on the other side.
Figure 37 starts the Japanese invasion money (JIM)
alterations. These are all placed on genuine notes. Figure
37 is a fantasy, probably intended to represent the post-
war Communist guerrilla forces that the British fought to
a standstill in Malaya in the 1950s. Note the hammer and
sickle in the upper left corner of the flag.
Figure 38 is another fantasy on a Philippines note; you
have to look closely to see the soldier standing in front of
the flag. Give the fabricator credit for using the correct
48-star flag of the period.
Figures 39 and 42 are knock offs of an earlier fantasy (not
prepared in Warrington) for an alleged anti-Japanese
Malayan movement that did not exist (or if there was a
tiny cell of them someplace, they had no inkjet printers in
the jungle). The image on figure 40 was lifted from the
cover of a souvenir booklet of JIM that was sold after the
war as a novelty. I once owned one of the booklets.
Figure 41 is new to me. The almost-illegible text at the
top says ?The Warriors of Freedom have Landed!?
Figures 43-44 copy the designs of a pair of British
propaganda leaflets used in Burma?again, not printed
over existing notes, but on clean paper with a note image
on the other side. One is in Burmese script and the other
in Romanized Burmese. Original leaflets in these designs
are quite scarce.
Figure 33
Figure 34
Figure 35
Figure 36
Figure 37
Figure 38
Figure 39
Figure 40
Figure 41
Figure 42
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
355
Figure 45 is a Kuwaiti note with a fancy ?We would
never forget you? device commemorating the liberation
of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm. Smaller print says
?National Committee for [illegible] Affairs.? The Kuwait
government printed non-legal-tender notes
commemorating the 2nd and 10th anniversaries of the
liberation, but this image is original to Warrington.
Figure 46 is a Lao note with a three-headed-elephant
overprint on the watermark window. It is lightly printed
and hard to make out.
Figures 47-50 are all Libyan notes with different
images of Muammar el Ghaddafi (the seller?s spelling),
billed as commemoratives or referencing something in
Ghaddafi?s life. In #47 he is holding a green book and the
caption on the lot was ?Green Book??presumably
something he wrote, akin to Mao?s little red book.
Figure 50 was labeled ?The Great
Man?River Builder,? text
included in English in the fantasy
overprint (it might be barely legible
in the magazine). Ghaddafi did
appear on many Libyan notes, but
not with these vignettes.
We?ll stop here?more next
issue. As these notes get re-sold,
watch for them to appear outside
eBay. There a many of some of
them.
Figure 43
Figure 44
Figure 45
Figure 46
Figure 47
Figure 48 Figure 49
Figure 50
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
356
The front of the Type-40 Treasury note endorsed by Capt. J. G. Michailoffsky, Assistant Quarter Master
image: Randall Smith
The Quartermaster Column No. 14
by Michael McNeil
An historical treasure is sometimes found in
unexpected places. The path leading to this treasure
started with the discovery of endorsements on
Confederate Types 39 and 40 Treasury notes by Capt.
J. G. Michailoffsky, Assistant Quarter Master at
Macon, Georgia. The treasure was discovered in two
of the 181 documents in his file in the National
Archives, available online at www.Fold3.com.
1862
J. G. Michailoffsky was born in Poland. A
letter of recommendation from John Gill Shorter, the
Governor of Alabama, stated: ?...He is a worthy &
esteemed citizen, an efficient, capable, & trusty
business man, and the scars he bears, in defence of
his own beloved Poland, testify to his gallantry as a
soldier....?
Michailoffsky was appointed Capt. & AQM
on April 2nd, 1862, taking rank retroactively to March
22nd. A voucher dated April 8th placed Michailoffsky
in Montgomery, Alabama. On August 30th, 1862 he
received orders from Richmond ?to attend to duties
both at Macon & Griffin [Georgia].? The Treasury
note endorsement reads:
Issued 10th Sept 1862
J G Michailoffsky
Capt & AQM
The back of the Type-40 Treasury note with the
September 10th, 1862 endorsement by J. G.
Michailoffsky, Capt. & AQM. The endorsement at top
is by John Boston, Coll(ector and Depositary) who
first issued the note on September 4th, 1862.
image: Randall Smith
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
357
1863
Michailoffsky filed his quarterly returns to
Richmond on April 20th, 1863, and noted in his cover
letter that the actual returns were sent via the
Southern Express Companies and enclosed a receipt
for $5.50. This was prudent, as I have found
documented cases of the loss of returns during
shipment in the files of other officers. On July 10th
Michailoffsky was promoted to Maj. & QM. Quarter
Masters served in many roles, among them
paymasters, and for the month of November he
estimated the funds needed for payrolls at Macon,
Georgia, breaking this down to $23,000 for officers
and troops in the Provost Battalion detailed and
working in the armory and arsenal, $8,000 for
medical and commissary departments, $5,000 for
general hospital pay rolls, and $4,000 in Treasury
certificates.
1864
Michailoffsky signed vouchers at Macon for
189 new tents during the months of July, August, and
September. Take careful note of that sentence. Other
expenses for those three months included $148.50 on
postage and $210.89 for telegraphs. Purchases of
20,040 pounds of corn and 10,020 pounds of oats
consumed by nine horses and 104 mules were made
at considerable expense for animals and drivers
contracted from the private sector.
Now we come to the historical treasure in
this file. It is an official military report dated June
21st, 1864 at Macon, Georgia. It is addressed to Gen?l
Braxton Bragg and written by Capt. W(illiam) M.
Hammond, A(ssistant) A(djutant) Gen?l. While it
exhibits large ink smears, it clearly reads:
Col. [J. P.] Jones being absent, I proceeded on
receipt of your telegram of 13th instant to inspect
Prison Depot at Andersonville.
Number of prisoners at Depot on 20th inst was
23,951. The Guard commanded at present by Col.
J. H. Fannin?s 1st Georgia Reserves consist of 4
Regiments State Reserves, a detachment from 55th
Georgia Volunteers and Dyke?s Florida battery,
the aggregate effective strength being 1,588. The
?Reserve? troops are poorly instructed and
without discipline. The Prison Camp is
surrounded by a stockade 17 feet high and covers
an area of 16 1/2 acres, only 12 acres of which
can be occupied.
It is crowded, filthy, and insecure. An addition
now being made will give ample room. Rations
issued to prisoners the same in quality & quantity
as those issued to the Guard. Average rate of
mortality during present month has been 36 per
diem. The Guard should be strengthened by the
addition of at least 1,500 men. Additional
Surgeons, and 150 hospital tents are immediately
needed. [The original document is illustrated]
Bragg was relieved of field duty in February
1864 after heavy losses to Gen?l U. S. Grant. He was
transferred to Richmond and functioned as a military
advisor to President Jefferson Davis. Among other
significant military reforms, Bragg undertook the
administration of military hospitals and prisons. He
undoubtedly understood all too well the precarious
situation of the South in general, and was asking in
this report for information on the conditions of the
Andersonville Prison in southwest Macon County to
evaluate what further actions should be taken.
The importance of this document is that it
represents a top level Confederate military report of
conditions at the Andersonville Prison and it contains
appalling data on death rates and population density.
This data may have contributed to the Confederate
offer to the Union in the latter part of the summer
?...that it would conditionally release prisoners [from
Andersonville] if the Union would send ships to
retrieve them....?1 This offer was refused, and...
The conditions [at Andersonville] were so poor
that in July 1864 Captain Wirz paroled five Union
soldiers to deliver a petition signed by the
majority of Andersonville?s prisoners asking that
the Union reinstate prisoner exchanges in order to
relieve the overcrowding and allow prisoners to
leave these terrible conditions. That request was
denied. The Union soldiers, who had sworn to do
so, returned to report this to their comrades. ...The
breakdown of the prisoner exchange system [was]
caused by the Confederacy?s refusal to include
blacks in the exchanges.... 2
After the fall of Atlanta the prisoners were
moved by rail to other prisons, and we see evidence
for this in Michailoffsky?s letter of September 9th to
Col. James H. Burton, Superintendant:
In reply to your note of this date I am sorry to
inform you that I have not yet received any
fodder, and on account of moving the prisoners
all of the cars are used for that purpose....
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
358
One of the interesting comments by Captain
Hammond is the remark that the prisoners were fed
as well as those guarding them, which implied that
they were all starving, a reflection of conditions in
the South at this late stage in the war.
So why was this important document found
in Michailoffsky?s files? There are two clues. The
report states the immediate need for 150 tents, and
Michaeloffsky?s vouchers for the months of July,
August, and September 1864 include requisitions for
189 new hospital tents. And the vertically oriented
script on the back of the report is signed by Col. D.
Wyatt Aiken, Post Commander, and states ?Ordered
to be paid by Post Qtr Mast.,? who we know was
Maj. J. G. Michailoffsky, and who escaped violence
in Poland only to be embroiled in the appalling
conditions at Andersonville Prison.
1865
Capt. Henry Wirz, Commander of
Andersonville Prison, was convicted of conspiracy
and acts of personal cruelty and executed.3 Maj. J. G.
Michailoffsky was paroled on May 24th, 1865 at
Montgomery, Alabama.
? carpe diem
Notes and References:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersonville_National_Historic_Site
2. ibid.
3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wirz
4. McNeil, Michael. Confederate Quartermasters, Commissaries, and Agents., Pierre Fricke, Sudbury, 2016. More data on
Andersonville prisoners and tents, southwest view showing the dead-line, August 17th, 1864.
image: Public Domain, By Bubba73 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9899973
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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The front of the official military report of conditions at Andersonville Prison dated June 21st 1864 and performed
at the request of Gen?l Braxton Bragg, military advisor to President Jefferson Davis. A transcription of the text is
found in the article. image: Fold3.com
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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The back of the official military report of conditions at Andersonville Prison dated June 21st 1864 and performed
at the request of Gen?l Braxton Bragg, military advisor to President Jefferson Davis. A transcription of the text is
found in the article. The vertical script by Col. D. Wyatt Aiken refers to Maj. Michailoffsky. image: Fold3.com
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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Bullion has been on a tear the past month with gold
breaking an all-time record and silver up over 56%! Even
now ?Ag? is flirting with $30/ounce as these pages are
being written. The fever will no doubt continue in the
short term as casual investors and curious onlookers will
be jumping onboard the ever-crowded precious metals
train. History always repeats itself as dreams are made
into reality and hearts are broken while chasing
commodities across their peaks and valleys. Thankfully,
I have never caught the fever and thoroughly enjoy
watching the carnage unfold from a safe distance. My
heart will forever be ensconced in the paper world,
searching for treasures in lightweight Silver Certificates
instead of those clunky 100oz bars.
Let?s take a look at the ultimate crossover note,
the 1886 $5 Silver Certificate! While coins have
previously appeared on pre-civil war obsolete notes
flanked by cherubs and pretty young maidens, none of
these early private issues meet the same level of grandeur
as the coveted Morgan Back Five Dollar Bill! Enacted
August 4th, 1886, just a year after Grant?s passing on July
23rd, 1885 this stunning Silver Certificate immortalized
the Hero of the Appomattox in his very first Federal issue
paper money debut. Small size fifties are now catching
on in popularity, and every true collector must add an
example of Grant?s very first appearance to their
collection! To delve even deeper, look for a Treasury
Warrant Draft issued in the 1870?s featuring Grant?s
portrait while he was still alive!
Being the very first five-dollar silver certificate
series ever issued, you would expect that these 1886 notes
were saved in large quantities and are extremely easy to
come by. Shockingly, out of the 33.88 million that were
printed, only a miniscule 0.0036% are estimated to have
survived for collectors to enjoy! Spanning seven total
catalog varieties and four signature combination, just over
1100 examples have been tracked in the online census.
Demand has always been high for this attractive design,
yet prices have recently dipped at public auction creating
a significant short-term opportunity for the buy and hold
collector! VF examples of the most available Friedberg
catalog numbers Fr.261 and Fr.263 that previously traded
in the $2500-$3000 range can now be found, with a little
patience and determination, at prices below $2,000!
Here is a great piece of paper money trivia for
you to store away for a rainy day. The back of these 1886
fives with their gorgeous silver dollar coins vignette
feature the motto, ?In God We Trust? which had not been
seen on a Federal series issued note up to this point (That
I can find) and was not enacted into law to be printed on
Robert Calderman
Stacking Silver! ?Certificates
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
362
our paper currency until another 71 years later in 1956!!!
We know paper money survival rates are miniscule vs.
coins and this series is no exception. In 1886 for the
Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco mints
combined roughly 31.4M coins were struck with an
estimated minimum number of survivors including the
current certified population tallying in at 10% or 3.1
million Morgan dollars. While the 1886 Silver Certificate
series was printed over a number of years, it is intriguing
that the total production of 33.88M notes overtakes the
mintage of 1886 dollar coins and yet we have potentially
less than 1,500 surviving notes from the entire series that
have survived!
Problem free notes are highly prized especially
from the scarce low print run varieties. The very last issue
Fr.265 signed by Rosecrans-Nebeker featuring a small red
treasury seal had a significantly small run of only 740,000
notes equaling just 2.18% of the total 1886 five-dollar
silver certificates series. Beginning with serial number
B33140001 and ending in B33880000, the count of
known serial numbers currently stands at a paltry 45
examples making any surviving note a significant trophy.
Roughly 10% of the known survivors are in new condition
with just four Fr.265 examples in total certified as CU!
PMG has slabbed: (1) 64, and (1) 65EPQ and PCGS-
Currency/Legacy has holdered: (1) 63, and (1) 65PPQ.
As an added caveat this last issue Morgan Back variety
has the same signature combination and treasury seal as
the first issue 1891 open-back $5 SC, creating a stunning
opportunity to create a very attractive matched pair across
two series dates with different reverse designs! Often
with diligent study, opportunities will present themselves
for paper money enthusiasts to land a tough variety note
without the premium price tag. This was the case for me
at a small regional show in early August 2020 where after
nearly five months with zero coin shows, I was extremely
fortunate to land this Fr.265 conservatively graded
problem free Fine 12 by PMG for a price so attractive that
I am too embarrassed to commit the number to print!
Hard work pays off for those willing to study hard and put
in the time.
Do you have a great Cherry Pick story that you
would like to share? Your note might be featured here in
a future article and you can remain anonymous if desired!
Email scans of your note with a brief description of what
you paid and where it was found to:
gacoins@earthlink.net.
References: ?The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Federal Large-
Size Notes, 1861-1929? Chambliss-Hessler 2014. PCGS Coin-Facts
www.pcgs.com/coinfacts
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
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The Obsolete Corner
The Marine Bank of Chicago
by Robert Gill
Hello paper money lovers. I hope that you and
your family are staying healthy during these "Covid
Times". Here in Southern Oklahoma, my wife and I
are staying home most of the time, but it seems that we
are struggling from the usual weather that we are
accustomed to having this time of the year. But with
our good health, a good tomato crop, and an occasional
sheet to add to my Obsolete collection, how could life
be better! Now, let?s look at the sheet that I've chosen
to share with you in this article.
On January 13th, 1852, The Marine Bank of
Chicago, under the leadership of Jonathan Young
Scammon, was organized, the first in Chicago under
the Free Banking Law of 1851. It operated
successfully until 1860, when heavy misappropriation
of funds had undermined the strength of the institution.
During this time it became apparent to thoughtful and
experienced financiers and businessmen that this
situation, along with political agitation then convulsing
the country, could soon be very detrimental to its
business operations.
It was also realized that the security of the bills of
banks in Illinois were largely based upon the stocks of
many Southern states. It was seen that should the
South adopt ordinances of succession, inaugurate war,
and withdraw from the Union, the value of the stocks
held for security would become greatly reduced, and in
fact, become worthless.
During the summer of 1862, when gold began to
rise in value, brokers began to buy and sell it like any
other commodity, and as it continued to rise and
fluctuate in value, the expectations and hopes arose and
fell correspondingly. This, the Civil War, and other
factors, brought on the troubles of this institution. All
things culminated early in 1863, and Illinois banks lost
heavily. And The Marine Bank of Chicago was no
exception.
By early 1863, with the War being in full force,
the financial troubles of the Bank worsened so bad that
it was unable to recover itself, and was compelled to
quit business with a debt of over $200,000 hanging
over it. However, by later that same year, it was able
to resume business.
An interesting situation came to be between Bank
President Scammon and a man by the name of George
Smith. Smith had been successful in obtaining a
questionable charter for The Wisconsin Fire and
Marine Insurance Company. Through this Company,
he was able to circulate a very large supply of notes.
Legal banks and others, being interested in
stopping the progress that Smith's institution was
making, exerted great efforts to discredit its paper.
Banks would try to hoard large quantities of Smith?s
notes, and then later present them all at one time, thus
draining his supply of specie. This strategy, however,
seemed to come up short.
According to one instance, Scammon had been
enjoying presenting large amounts of ?Smith's bills"
for redemption. One day he met Smith, who asked him
what amount of the notes of his (Scammon?s) bank
were outstanding. When Scammon replied that there
were just $175,000, Smith quickly informed him that
his own vaults contained $125,000 of that amount, and
that he would soon ?bring them over for redemption".
That remark kept Scammon in a state of worry for
some time before an agreement was reached between
the two rivals, whereby each pledged not to attempt
anything to the detriment of the business of the other.
Historical records indicate that sometime around
1864, The Marine Bank of Chicago became The
Marine Bank Company.
This sheet is one that is possibly unique. I
acquired it thru Stacks Bowers Galleries official
auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring
Expo., held in March of 2019. Heritage Auctions
archives reveal that it has offered only two Remainder
and four Proof notes of this sheet. Stacks Bowers
Galleries has only offered individual examples of the
$1 and $3 denominations previously, while the Haxby
reference showed all notes as SENC (Surviving
Example Not Confirmed) at the time of its 1988
printing. And Obsolete Currency specialist/dealer,
Hugh Shull, had never seen a sheet on this bank until
this one surfaced.
So there it is. Another fabulous "piece of history"
that has survived intact for us paper money enthusiasts
to enjoy. Wow! What a hobby. I just wonder what is
going to show up next for me to go after.
As I always do, I invite any comments to my
personal email address robertgill@cableone.net or my
cell phone (580) 221-0898.
Until next time, HAPPY COLLECTING.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
364
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
365
$5 Philadelphia Late-Finished Face 39
By Jamie Yakes
Five-dollar Philadelphia Series of 1934A face 39 is one of four late-finished Series of 1934A
FRN faces reported to collectors in 2017.1 The others were $5 New York 58, $5 San Francisco 52, and
$10 Philadelphia 169. Each plate originally was a 1934 master plate that in 1938 the BEP altered to a
1934A master plate to use as a template for making other 1934A plates. They finished each plate in 1944
as a production plate and used them for regular sheet printings.
The process of
making intaglio printing
plates involved masters,
bassos and altos. Masters
served as templates for
producing altos, which
were intermediaries lifted
from the masters and had
designs in relief as
opposed to the incuse
designs on masters.
Bassos were the resulting
plates lifted from altos
after depositing metal
onto them, and were exact
replicas of the master
plates used to make the
altos. Most bassos were
cleaned up, polished and
etched with plate serials, then logged into the plate vault for eventual use as production plates. A few
instead were reserved as master plates.
The BEP began face 39 as $5 Philadelphia Series of 1934 plate 2 on November 6, 1934, and
produced it from an alto lifted from steel intaglio master face plate 1. They designated plate 2 the
electrolytic master basso and used it to prepare four altos from November 12-26. Over the next two years
altos from plates 1 and 2 would serve to produce all 1934 $5 Philadelphia production faces.
In January 1938 the BEP began etching macro serial numbers on finished plates2 and designating
those plates Series of 1934A. On May 26, 1938, they altered plate 2 to a 1934A by etching an ?A? after
each ?SERIES OF 1934? located on all 12 subjects. They reassigned it plate serial 39, which was the first
serial for $5 1934A Philadelphia faces, and designated it the 1934A master basso. Aside from the
different sizes of plate serials, bassos destined to become 1934s or 1934As had identical designs, and
conveniently nothing else needed to be altered, deleted or added in the process.
In June and July 1938, the BEP lifted four altos from 39, which spawned a majority of 1934A
Philadelphia production plates made through June 1945, inclusive of serials 40-92, except for four plates.
In August 1944, the BEP prepared a new steel intaglio master, plate 81, and used it to produce production
bassos 82, 83 and 84.
The BEP finished Philadelphia face 39 as a production plate on November 13, 1944, and added it
to the routine press plate rotation. They sent it to press only once for a short run from January 7-23, which
happened to be the last press run with Philadelphia 1934 and 1934A faces. Also sent to press were 1934A
faces 49 and 52-61, and 1934 faces 33, 35 and 36. They dropped half the plates on the 22nd and the rest
the following day. Plate 39 then sat unused for the rest of the year until canceled on December 31.
Face 39 notes likely will have serials in in the 60 million-80 million range of the C-A block. This
is based on this author?s observations of 1934A notes with plate serials used concurrently with face 39.
Figure? 1.? The? G? position? note? from? the? proof? sheet? of? $5? 1934A? Philadelphia? late?
finished?face?plate?39.?In?the?selvage?is?the?plate?number?38031,??EI??denoting?the?plate?
as?electrolytic? iron,?and?a?triangle?denoting?the?plate?a?master.? (National?Numismatic?
Collection).?
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
367
Philadelphia face 39 was the only late-finished FRN face to overlap the use of 1934 faces. Interestingly,
Philadelphia 1934B faces 96 and 99 were used in November and December 1945, before face 39 was in
the press room. Changeover pairs between face 39 and either 1934 or 1934B faces possibly were created
during the early months of 1946.
That C-A block contains reported Series of 1934A back plate 637 mules.3 Back 637 was a $5
master basso for 10 years until finished as a production plate on November 10, 1944 with micro serial
numbers.4 It had numerous press runs between June 23, 1945 and June 14, 1949, and sheets wound their
way to face printings for $5 legal tender notes, silver certificates and FRNs. The BEP had been using back
637 for six months by the time 39 went to press and ample sheet stock would have been available for
mating with that face. No matter the back, notes from face 39 have yet to be reported.
Sources Cited
1. Yakes, Jamie. ?Altered 1934A $5 and $10 Federal Reserve Note Master Plates.? Paper Money 56, no. 1 (2017,
Jan/Feb): 54-56.
2. Huntoon, Peter. ?Origin of macro plate numbers laid to Secret Service.? Paper Money 51, no. 4 (2012, Jul/Aug):
294, 296, 316.
3. Author?s census.
4. Yakes, Jamie. ?The Extraordinary First Ten Years of Micro Back 637.? Paper Money 55, no. 3 (2016, May/Jun):
212-215.
References
Record Group 318-Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Entry P1, ?Ledgers Pertaining to Plates, Rolls and Dies,
1870s-1960s,? Containers 144 (12-subject bassos) and 147 (1934 FRN plate histories). National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
369
Paper Money and Politics
At one of our regular meetings, a colleague
on the SPMC Board of Governors happened to
remark what a relief it was to have a hobby
(collecting and studying paper money) that has
nothing to do with politics. On one level, I totally
agree with that sentiment. As I listen to fellow
hobbyists rhapsodize about their favorite star mule
notes, I don?t want to know about their five-point
plan to replace Obamacare, or how they would pack
the Supreme Court. That said, though, money
remains an intensely political thing. In the words of
the economist Abba Lerner, ?money is a creature of
the state.? In fact, it?s this political quality of money
that makes the collecting and studying of all forms of
it so much more interesting than, say, stamps (sorry,
philatelists!). Read almost any article in Paper
Money and it becomes clear that knowing a political
backstory is part of understanding almost any topic in
our hobby.
The essentially political character of money
is underscored by the current turmoil in public
affairs. We are living through some crazy times.
Even as the Federal Reserve liquefies almost any
asset it can get its hands on to keep the economy
afloat, we as individuals are loath to touch physical
cash out of fear that it harbors the coronavirus. Lucre
may be filthy in that way, but paper money is always
rich with political symbolism, its themes and
vignettes communicating stories about what persons,
values, and events a nation deems important.
In the present day, such symbols have
become a particularly fraught aspect of American
politics. Movements like Black Lives Matter have
challenged the long-standing acceptance of artefacts
like flags, statues, building names, and other markers
of historical memory, particularly as they pertain to
the old Confederacy. What happens when the paper
money in our pockets is challenged in the same way?
After all, our money is populated with slave owners
(those being Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, and?
slightly?Franklin). When you include past
emissions, the list of suspects gets longer (Henry
Clay on a Legal Tender $50, James Madison on
various big notes, and so on.) And this doesn?t even
include non-slave owners who were prominent
racists, even by the standards of their time, like
Woodrow Wilson on the $100,000 note.
If our currency does harbor racist residues,
what if anything should we do about it? One
numismatist has recently connected the attack on
Confederate monuments to something called ?cancel
culture?, conjuring up the specter of our coin and
paper money collections being confiscated because of
their politically-incorrect symbolism.* This is, to put
it mildly, highly unlikely. Money may be a creature
of the state, but your coins and currency remain your
private property to do with what you like. Taking
them away from you would require an Attorney
General of the United States who was willing to
trample on the Constitution, and I really can?t
imagine that ever happening. That said, if it would
be reassuring to anybody, I would simply announce
right here that if anybody has any racist notes that
they?d like to get rid of (particularly any with Wilson
on them?especially those), they are welcome to
send them to me c/o SPMC and I will give them a
good home.
More realistically, if our current political
turmoil does reverberate at all into numismatics, it
might stimulate more interest in currency redesign.
The United States stands out in the world for the
stodginess of its banknotes. While most other
countries have long since branched out into non-
political themes and portraitures, we have stuck with
the tried-and-true roster of dead presidents for
decades. Changes made over the last twenty-five
years have had mostly to do with making the
currency more difficult to counterfeit.
The traditional argument against innovation
has held that an unchanging American currency
connoted stability of value, and that redesigning it
would only disrupt that psychological equilibrium.
Perhaps, but that never stopped the Swiss from
updating their franc banknotes, a trusted currency if
there ever was one. At a time when cash payments
are on the way out, maybe it would become more
popular if it simply looked more interesting.
Someday, Harriet Tubman will take Andrew
Jackson?s place on the twenty, and that just might get
the ball rolling on a long-overdue transformation of
America?s money. It would be asking too much to go
back to the soft-core eroticism of the Educational
Series, but diversifying the portraits and vignettes on
our currency might have the effect of creating the
kind of money that mirrors better the diverse profile
of America as it actually is. And in this one small
way, our money might finally catch up with our
politics.
*?First They Came for the Statues?? Numismatic
Detection Agency, July 2, 2020.
https://numismaticdetectives.com/blog/f/first-they-
came-for-the-statues.
Chump Change
Loren Gatch
Paper Money * Sept/Oct 2020 * Whole No. 329
366
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